Run that by Me Again
by Shke Behet
Summary: Michelangelo runs into two girls while escaping Bishop, and ends up taking them to New York. Two of his brothers begin to develop feelings for them, but with Bishop and Hun on the loose, will it last? Raph/OC, Leo/OC. COMPLETED!
1. Separation Anxiety

A/N: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles belong to Mirage comics, not us. We are merely using them for our own entertainment.

Separation Anxiety

"Whoa dudes, anyone else notice these guys aren't as easy to beat today?" Mikey dodged another Purple dragon and sent the one sneaking up behind him flying with a well aimed kick. They had been patrolling when they noticed a group of Purple Dragons harassing an old lady in an alley, but unfortunately, they had been expected.

"They musta' had their Wheaties today." Raph ducked causing two purple dragons to knock themselves out.

"Actually I had something to do with it." A figure emerged from the shadows.

"Bishop!" He smirked and pushed a button, opening up the back of a van where ten very large, very vicious looking purple dragons waited. They surrounded Bishop, waiting for orders. The turtles knocked out the other purple dragons and stared.

"Those guys are huge!"

"Like them? I introduced them to a new serum I created, giving them five times their normal strength, though unfortunately, it is not permanent. But perhaps with some of the knowledge I could gain from your mutations, it could be. Dragons, seize the purple one!"

"Huh?" Donny blinked and his brothers surrounded him. Leo growled.

"What do you want with Donny?" Bishop shrugged.

"After observing your skills, I have noticed that he is the weakest fighter, and will provide the least resistant to capture."

"Hey he could still kick your ass Bishop!" The orange mask wearing nun-chuck wielding ninja was mad. No one insults his brothers.

"Thanks Mikey." Leonardo, Michelangelo, and Raphael surrounded their brother, protecting him from Bishop and his enhanced purple dragons.

"Don, can you reverse Bishop's enhancements?" The purple brother stopped for a moment.

"If we get them to expend a lot of energy the chemical should move out of their blood stream faster."

"Well what are we waitin' for let's give 'um a work out." Each turtle took off in a different direction, and the dragons surrounded them. Bishop moved out of the way and observed the fight with relish. It was nice to see the turtles struggling, after all the trouble they'd given him. He made a sign at the nearest dragon and he nodded and grabbed something from the van. It was net gun. He took careful aim and the dragons fighting Donny moved to the side. Just as he shot the gun, Mikey looked over and saw his brother struggling.

"Donny, no!" He pushed him out the way and the net shot around Mikey. Bishop motioned the dragons and they grabbed him and threw him into the back of the van. He threw down several smoke bombs and the remaining turtles coughed. By the time the smoke cleared, the van was racing away down the street.

"NO!" Raph started chasing after the van. "What are you waitin' for? We have to save Mikey." Leo and Don started running from roof to roof, tracking the van with their stolen brother in it.

"They're turning on Third and Bleeker!"

"Raph, Don you two try to cut them off. I'll come up from the back and get Mikey out."

"Right." Donatello and Raphael ran ahead to the next street to intercept the van. Leonardo leapt from the building and landed on the van, losing his grip he slipped from the top of the van. He was able to grab the edge before hitting the pavement. He took his katana and tried to pry the back door of the van open. He felt the truck swerve, almost losing his grip again.

"Sorry 'bout that Fearless! How's the rescue going?"

"Just fine Raph." Raph knocked out the driver and took his place, leaving Donny to fight off the other dragons. Leo finally pried open a hole, where a fist shot through, almost catching him. Suddenly, the catch on the door came loose, the door whipping open with Leo holding on for dear life. "Raph, pull over!"

"What?"

"Stop the van!" Raph slammed on the brakes, sending everyone flying forward. Leo groaned as he was thrown into the back of the van. Raph snickered.

"You said stop." Donny leapt up and went to the back.

"He's not here!"

"Huh?" He turned to Leo and Raph with a panicked look.

"He's not here, we've been duped!" They stared at him in disbelief. He was right; there were only a handful of purple dragons in the van. At that moment, a video screen on the side of the van flickered on.

"Enjoy my little chase?"

"Bishop!"

"Great little decoy wasn't it? And you fell for it. Did you think it would be that easy? I've spent years hunting you four. And now I finally won, but don't worry I'll put your DNA to good use. Say good-bye to your brother." Bishop moved to the side revealing Michelangelo strapped to a table with his mouth gagged.

"MIKEY!"

"Damn you Bishop! DAMN YOU!" Raphael punched screen where Bishop's image was showing, shattering the pieces everywhere.

"We'll find him Raph. We'll find him."

The turtles dejectedly made their way down into the sewers. Coming into their home, they were greeted by Master Splinter.

"My sons, what has happened?" They looked at each other wearily and Leonardo knelt.

"We failed Master Splinter. They have Mikey Master, Bishop has Mikey." Splinter closed his eyes with a grave expression.

"This is bad news indeed my sons. Very bad news."

"This is all my fault! I was the one Bishop was after! I was the one Mikey pushed out of the way! I'm the one that got my brother captured! And I couldn't do anything to save him." Splinter put a hand on his Donatello's shoulder.

"My son I do not know what has led to these events, but I do know that your brother does not blame you, nor do I."

"He's right Don. It's not your fault; we had no way of knowing what Bishop was planning. This is his fault."

"That's right and when I find that creep I'm going to make him eat some serious shell."

"Thanks guys and I think I already have an idea on how to find Mikey. I should be able to track him on his shell cell, and pinpoint his location." Don sat down at his computer and brought up the GPS and tried to track Mikey's shell cell. Unfortunately, nothing showed up. Don blinked at the screen.

"You've got to be kidding me, he's not here."

"Or Bishop destroyed it." Don pounded his fist on his keyboard.

"Damnit!" Leo put a hand on his shoulder.

"It's alright Donny, we'll find another way to track him." Donny lifted his head.

"You're right. And if Bishop even thinks of hurting him, he's going to have to answer to me!"


	2. I know this Story

A/N: This fic is collaboration between me and vanillaninja2032, and is a mix of the 2003 cartoon and the 2007 movie in case anyone is confused. We would like to thank Kiwimiwi, Emily, and Mymusesspeaktome for their reviews. You guys rock!

I Know this Story…

"Ugh." The first thing Michelangelo became of was the pounding in his head. He automatically tried to rub his eyes, but found himself immobile. His eyes snapped open and he struggled with his bonds. His arms and legs were cuffed to a metal table in the middle of a cramped room. He squinted, trying to find the door. They room was almost completely dark, save for a sliver of light coming from under the door.

"Did anyone get the license number of the semi that hit me?"

"Funny as always Michelangelo."

"Bishop, love what you've done with the decorum, very Sci-fi. You know if you wanted to hang out you could've called. I always make room in my day for crazy kidnapping loons."

"That tongue of yours will get you in trouble one day." Mikey mockingly stuck his tongue out at him. "Perhaps I should cut it out." Mikey stopped. "That's better. Luckily for you, we need some live tissue samples, so you'll get to live for a few more days before you meet your demise. My men are looking forward to dissecting your inner organs." Mikey made a face.

"Nasty." Bishop chuckled.

"But first, there are a few tests we would like to….subject you to. The first will be…pain tolerance." Two men appeared behind Bishop holding electrodes. Mikey gulped.

"Uhh, can't we talk about this?" Bishop backed away and the two men descended on Mikey.

"AHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

"MIKEY!" Donatello sat up in bed panting. He held his head in his hands. It had been a week since Bishop kidnapped his younger brother, and they had had no luck in retrieving him. Every lead they had was a trap orchestrated by Bishop, and at each they were mocked by the dragons about their brother's predicament. He left his room, heading to his lab so he could scan the internet again for any possible leads about his brother. Maybe when he found something this time it wouldn't be a trap.

Michelangelo woke up for what seemed like the millionth time, staring at the same spot on the ceiling. It seemed to mock him. Every time he woke up and saw that spot he knew that he was still in Bishop's lab being experimented on. It was laughing every time, seemingly saying _'Ha ha you thought it was a dream. You were wrong you're still here and so am I.' _He hated that spot.

The door slowly opened and in walked one of Bishop's lackeys. This one was younger than the others, fresh out of college from the look of it. Doe-eyed with a baby face. Bishop must have convinced him that what he was doing was for the good of the country. Poor kid probably had no idea what was actually going on. He took his readings and readied the serum they had been injecting him with to keep him weak. It was at that moment that he noticed he left the door open. The doors could only be opened from either side by a retina scanner to keep him from escaping, and the rookie in front of him accidently left it open a crack. Perfect.

"Hey." He croaked and he jumped and peered at him. It was likely she had never seen him conscious. He worked his face into a pitiable expression. "Could I maybe have some water?" he stuttered.

"You will get your ration later." Mikey frowned.

"Yeah, but that thing you keep giving me makes me really thirsty, I think it's like a side effect or something." He frowned and grabbed his clipboard and began scribbling. Okay, if he just kept him from leaving, he might be able to pull this off.

"A side effect of the serum? Interesting." He croaked again.

"Please?" He glanced at him, then went over to the sink and grabbed a small cup. He gave a silent cheer. Now he just needed to think of the rest of his plan. He brought the water up to his mouth, and frowned, realizing that he wouldn't be able to drink like that. He saw him hesitate. He couldn't let this opportunity pass up. He started coughing. That made up his mind. He raised the operating tray he was on into a vertical position and released one of his hands.

"Sorry about this." He swung out and punched him, knocking him out. He quickly broke out of his restraints and made his way to the door. Looking down the hallway, he realized there was a guard posted at every corridor. He wished he had his nun-chucks, but there was no time to look for them, he had to get out of here. He leapt down the hallway and quickly incapacitated the guard. Unfortunately, he hit a fork in the road. Should he go left or right? At that moment he heard several voices coming from the right. He ran silently down the left corridor, and, spotting a ventilation shaft, he removed the cover and crawled through it. Maybe it would lead him to an exit.

"Come on ninja skills don't fail me now." He managed to make it to a back room, and crawled out. Spotting a door, he cautiously exited, to find fresh night air.

"Sweet!" He raced across the grounds, keeping to the shadows, while several guards ran by. He made it to some trees nearby, and tried to leap into one.

"Argh! Pine!" He spit out a mouthful of pine needles and looked around in confusion. This definitely wasn't New York. The air was clear, the stars were bright, and hills with pine trees littered the area. It seemed Bishop had been keeping him in an abandoned military base out in the boonies so he wouldn't be found. He saw lights in the distance. They were too few to be New York, but a city was a city. He would be safer there then lost in the woods in an unfamiliar area.

"Alright city get ready, Mikey's coming."

Bishop stared at the surveillance video watching the turtle knock out one of his interns and escape.

"Sir, should we go after the subject?"

"Not yet. I was prepared for this. Besides," He smirked. "We still have the other one."

---

"That was cute."

"I know, that was way better than the cg stuff they've done lately."

"Agreed." Two girls walked out of an old-fashioned movie theater in downtown Rush, South Dakota. It was close to midnight, and a cold wind blew their hair as they walked down the empty streets toward their car. The shorter one blew her brown bangs out of her face.

"Disney needs to keep making animated princess movies." The other girl nodded her head in agreement, pulling her brown leather bomber jacket around her. The wind had started to pick up.

"I want a romance just like that, with a funny green prince frog."

"I want that jazz playing gator."

"Uhh, can he play at my wedding?" The short brown haired girl paused.

"Yeah, okay."

"Good." They turned and walked by a long alley with images over every surface. Graffiti, paint, and art of every kind decorated the alley. In fact, there was a guy spraying a new piece not too far away, a lantern lighting up the wall in front of him.

"Why is he doing that in the middle of the night?"

"It's crowded with people admiring the art sometimes during the day I guess." They turned to leave when they heard a clang. They turned around and saw a man in a trench coat standing over the artist, giving a speech about justice.

"Huh? What's that guy doing?" The one of the girls stepped closer.

"I think he thinks that artist was graffiting the alley."

"Ah. Do you think we should do something?"

"Yeah, probably." The girls stepped into the alley.

"No matter what town I'm in I run into no-do-gooders like you!?" One of the girls whispered to her friend while watching the man in the trench coat.

"No-do-gooders?" Her friend just shrugged.

"I'll teach you not to mess with people's allies." Finally one of the girls spoke up.

"You know he's allowed to do that right?" The man in the trench coat whipped his head around and observed the two girls standing at the end of the alley way. The one that had spoken to him was tall, around his height with long blonde hair and green eyes. The second girl was shorter by a few inches and had short brown hair framing her face, blue eyes staring at him like he was crazy.

"Look I don't know what kind of town you two live in, but this man was breaking the law, and it's up to me to stop him."

"No, it's not, besides, this is art alley. People are allowed to paint here, see." The blonde one pointed out the walls and the man looked around, seemingly observing his surroundings for the first time.

"Oh." He dropped the artist he was holding. "Well carry on then. Just don't let me catch you breaking any other laws." The artist nodded and ran away. The girls stared cautiously at the mysterious would-be vigilante. Was he dangerous, or was he just really against graffiti artists? "Well ladies, it's been real." He crouched down and looked like he was going to jump, when a strong breeze swept over them, lifting off the stranger's hat. The two girls stared. He had a green head, a bald green head with an orange mask around his eyes. His eyes widened as they all stared at each other, unmoving. Suddenly the short brunette hit her friend.

"It worked! A green frog guy! Quick, wish for a million bucks!" At that moment, tires screeching on the street next to them and raised voices could be heard.

"I think he went that way!"

"No, not now!" The stranger looked away from them at the end of the alley when a van skidded around the corner, headlights shining in their eyes.

"Freeze turtle!" The girls looked at each other.

"Turtle?" Mikey cursed as the grunts noticed the two girls.

"Witnesses! Seize them!" Mikey jumped into action, grabbing a metal trash can next to him and flinging it toward the men, before grabbing both girls.

"Come on, you have to run!" He pulled both of their hands and got them to run with him down the alley. "They think you're with me, you have to get out of here!"

"What are you talking about, who are they?!" The two girls ran with him, those guys after them definitely weren't the police, and they screamed danger.

"They're the guys that are after me and it's not safe for you two to be seen around me. I didn't think they'd find me this fast. You two stay here I'll lead them off." Both girls grabbed him by the shell.

"No. That's a dumb idea."

"They'd just get you again."

"Piper, call the police."

"Wait you can't!"

"No, listen."

"Piper will call the police and tell them there's been a robbery. Squad cars will come here, throwing those guys off their game. Then we'll wait here and sneak away in our car when we get a chance. We parked a few streets away so the police won't stop us." Mikey paused.

"…That might…work."

"Great Pipe, call the cops." The brunette reached into her purse, grabbed some change, and walked to the nearest pay phone.

"Hello police? Oh god it's awful! I was in Murphy's when these men came in. They had guns and started holding up the place. I was in the bathroom and was able to get away. Oh god, send everyone you can! It's awful! I think I see some of them roaming the streets." Piper threw in an extra sob for flare. She hung up the phone and turned to her friend and the turtle.

"They'll be here in a minute."

"Yeah, the police station is less than ten blocks away." At that moment, some of the grunts after Mikey came close to seeing them. Mikey pushed both of them behind a dumpster and held a finger to his lips. They watched in trepidation as the large men walked past them and looked up.

"What do you think? Boss said he likes to travel on rooftops."

"But how would those chicks get up there?"

"Good point, keep looking." They were almost on top of them, and Mikey was about ready to jump out and draw them away, when they heard the sirens.

"What the----cops?"

"Someone called the damn cops, come on!" The men ran off back toward the van and both girls breathed a sigh of relief. Two cop cars sped past them heading for the bar Piper told them was being robbed, and they leapt up as soon as they passed.

"Come on, I parked over here." They walked quickly toward the parking lot two blocks away and jumped at every shadow. They had a scare when neither girl could find the car keys, but everyone breathed a sigh of relief when they were finally inside the vehicle.

"That was close."

"Yeah." The two girls were in the front seats, with Mikey in the back. He was still looking around warily, when the girl with the blonde hair turned around.

"It's okay, the windows are tinted, nobody can see you." He shrugged.

"Oh yeah. Hey, I didn't catch your name." She raised an eyebrow.

"I didn't catch _yours._" Mikey grinned sheepishly.

"Right, uhh, it's Michelangelo, you know, like the painter? But call me Mikey." She looked at him evenly for a moment.

"Call me Li."

"Uhh, okay, and you're Piper right? I heard her call you that." The short brown haired girl turned around and nodded.

"Yep." At that moment, Li started the car.

"We'll continue this at home, I don't feel safe here." Mikey nodded in agreement.

"Here, here." Fifteen minutes later they pulled into a parking spot at the apartment building the two girls lived at. The drive had been silent, each person lost in their own thoughts. The two girls jumped out of the car and waited as Mikey looked around nervously.

"Is there anyone around?" Li looked around the parking lot.

"Nope." Mikey jumped out of the car cautiously and followed the girls up to the third floor of the building. He kept to the shadows in case someone saw him, but the hallways were silent this time of night. He breathed a sigh of relief when Piper grabbed a pair of keys and opened the door at the end of the hall. The two girls walked inside and Li flicked on the lights. Piper locked the door and both of them turned at the same time back toward Mikey. Piper jumped and Li's eyes widened. Now that they were standing in a lighted room, it was clear just how different he really was. He was taller than Li, who already stood at 5'8," with two fingers and an opposable thumb. He stood on two muscular legs with two toes. Li stood there staring at him, as Piper walked up and examined him closer. She grabbed his arm and looked at it closely, investigating his fingers and his forearms. He had taken off his coat when he entered the apartment, so Piper got a clean look at his shell. She brushed her fingers over it, tracing the patterns and then stood up on her tip toes and peered into his shell. This caused Mikey to jump away from her.

"It's a little early for that; I just met you this evening." She looked at him oddly.

"Li, your wish broke, you got a turtle instead of a frog prince." She turned around and looked at her friend who was snapping out of a stunned state. Piper grinned at her. "You could still kiss him."

"You were the one just checking him out."

"Ladies you can both kiss me, but only after our first date I'm not a tramp." Li decided to change the subject.

"So when that guy said turtle….:" Mikey nodded.

"Yeah, he wasn't just yanking your chain." Li gestured at him.

"But you're intelligent and human-like, not to mention human-size. How are you like this?" Mikey scratched his head.

"Uhh, it's kind of a long story, you might wanna sit down." They headed into the small living room and Li turned on all the lights and shut the curtains. She and Piper sat down and looked at him expectantly.

Twenty minutes later…..

Both girls stared at Mikey unblinking. He got slightly nervous.

"So, uh, are you---"But Piper cut him off.

"You're a mutant?" He nodded. Li looked over at Piper.

"I know this story. It's just like X-Men, except that he's not a natural-born mutant, meaning Magneto would try and kill him. But he could be friends with Nightcrawler." Mikey looked over at her.

"You like X-Men too?"

"Well, I'm more of a DC girl really, but I have a soft spot for the X-Men." Piper stopped this before it could escalate any more.

"So these guys are after you because they terrorize your home and you and your brothers are trying to stop them, which pisses them off and makes them want to experiment on you."

"Uhhh, kinda." She shrugged.

"Good enough for me. So, do you have any money?"

"No, I don't exactly have pockets." She pointed to his discarded trench coat. "Okay well maybe I do, but I just picked that up in a dumpster so no one would see that I'm, you know, green."

"Then how are you going to get home?" Realization lit up his face.

"I gotta call my brothers, can I borrow your phone?" Piper reached into her pocket to grab her cell, but Li stopped her.

"Wait, could our numbers be tracked, you said they were after your brothers too, what if your lines are tapped?" Mikey slumped his shoulders.

"I never thought of that! Oh man, I hope my bros are okay!"

"Is there anyone else you could call?"

"Yeah! My friends April and Casey, they're normal, I could call them." Piper tossed him her cell phone.

"Here's hoping." Mikey dialed the number and waited for it to ring. Once. Twice. Three times. On the fifth ring the answering machine answered.

"Hi, you've reached the O'Neil-Jones' home, neither Casey nor I am home at the moment, so leave a message and we'll get back to you."

"Shell. They're not answering."

"Do you think it's safe to leave a message?"

"I wouldn't chance it. You'll just have to crash with us tonight Mikey." He hung up and looked around.

"So, you got any grub?"


	3. Failed Plans

A/N: Thank you Kiwimiwi for reviewing. You rock! Way to be awesome. Everyone else can be as awesome as Kiwimiwi if you review too! Enjoy the chapter!

Failed Plans

"_Hey kids it's Cowabunga Carl!" Ten pairs of beady little eyes stared at him with empty stares as evil grins appeared on their faces. They slowly approached him, trapping him in a corner. There was nothing he could do as they started attacking. The mothers watched with bored indifference as their children assaulted him. "Why?" He cried as they hit him with foam bats. One of them held a balloon right next to his ear while another one approached with a needle. "What? No, don't pop that by my ear, I hate balloons popping!" The child smirked, than popped the balloon._

"_AH!" He shot up, awake, before he realized he couldn't. He was strapped to a table. The table he'd been strapped to for the past week. He looked up, it was the same ceiling. "It was a dream. Piper and Li were a dream." He felt a crushing weight on his shoulders. He thought he got away. He had escaped, and then met up with those girls. He had fallen asleep safe in their apartment, and now he realized it was just a dream. They were a dream. His chance of ever seeing his brothers or his father again was gone. His chance at freedom was gone. He heard the door open, and in walked Bishop._

"_Hello Michelangelo, I have good news for you. I'm going to let you go today." Mikey looked at him, disbelief written all over his face. "You see I don't need you anymore," He heard a buzzing sound "…well, alive at least." Bishop approached him, buzz saw whirling._

Li yawned and glanced over at her alarm clock. It was 3:00 in the morning. She groaned, but stood up and rubbed her eyes. She didn't eat much for dinner, and her stomach reminded her angrily. She shrugged on a black robe to hide her skimpy tank top and shorts from their guest and quietly opened her bedroom door. She tip toed to the kitchen and grabbed an apple. She leaned against the counter, and frowned when she heard someone mumbling. It was coming from the living room, where they had set up Mikey on the couch. She walked cautiously around the counter and over to the couch, where Mikey was thrashing fitfully.

"NO!" She jumped and dropped her apple as Mikey shot up from the couch, breathing heavily. Li cautiously approached him.

"Hey." Mikey looked up at her, taking a moment to recognize her.

"Li?" She nodded.

"Yeah, you okay? Looked like you were having one nasty dream there."

"Children's birthday parties and buzz saws. I'm okay now." She sat down next to him. They were both quiet for the next few minutes. The only sound was the small clock ticking on the wall. Finally Li spoke up.

"I used to have night terrors when I was younger." Mikey turned and looked at her.

"How'd you get over them?" She shrugged.

"I don't know. They went away as I got older. Time passed and eventually I stopped having them. Don't worry, it'll get better." They sat in silence again finally Li stood up and stretched her arms. "I'm going back to bed. Good night Mikey."

"Good night…and Li," She looked back at him. "Thank you."

"No sweat Mikey, we're friends now so no worries. Sleep well." She walked back to her room, closing the door and falling asleep again.

Mikey watched her leave, and then rearranged the blankets he had kicked around in his sleep. "I will."

Five Hours Later….

Piper opened the door to the bedroom and promptly smacked into Li coming out of the bathroom.

"Owww." Li smoothed her hair and Piper noticed she had already showered and gotten dressed.

"Bit early for you isn't it?" Li shrugged.

"Couldn't sleep." They went through their little hallway and came into the kitchen and stared.

"Morning dudettes, how do you like your eggs?" Mikey was wearing Li's apron and a large white chef's hat, a large pile of French toast already set on the table.

"What's all this?" Mikey shrugged.

"I just wanted to thank you for letting me stay here last night, so I thought I'd make you breakfast, is that okay?" He sheepishly put a hand behind his head. Piper sat down.

"Uhh, yeah! Good job Li, way to wish for a green turtle that can cook. Now all you need to do is wish for one that could do our taxes."

"My brother's pretty good with numbers."

"Oh my gosh, way to go Li!" Mikey served them and sat down with them. Li's eyes widened.

"Wow, this is the best French toast I've ever had!" Mikey blushed.

"Heh, thanks. I got a lot of experience, since none of my brothers can cook." He sighed.

"Hey, maybe we can try your friends again today, so they can get a hold of your brothers." Mikey smiled and looked up.

"Yeah, hey, uhh, do you mind if I use your shower? I kinda need a rinse." Both girls looked at each other. A turtle wanted to use their shower?

"Okay, it's the first door on your right, towels are in the closet." Mikey got up.

"Thanks." He left the kitchen and Piper looked at Li.

"Sooo, giant turtle using our shower."

"Yeah not exactly how I thought the day would start." She took a sip of her coffee.

"Yeah." They sat at their counter drinking coffee and eating their mutant turtle created French toast.

"He's a good cook though."

"Very good cook."

"Nice too."

"Very nice."

"Very green."

"Quite green." Piper looked up from her coffee.

"This is going to make our lives way more complicated isn't it?"

"Oh yeah."

"Huh." Both girls continued drinking their coffee until Mikey returned from his shower, with a towel wrapped around his waist and his mask off, making him look more innocent and gentle.

"Thanks dudettes, I needed that." Piper stared at him.

"Mikey?"

"Yeah babe?"

"Why do you have a towel wrapped around your waist when in five minutes you'll take it off and be naked again? I don't see the point." Mikey blinked.

"Uhhh, I don't know?" Li laughed and began putting the dishes in the sink. Mikey shrugged and strapped his mask on, and grabbed his belt and elbow and knee pads. He went and put the towel back in the bathroom and came back into the kitchen, where Li was just finishing the dishes.

"Do you want to use the phone again?"

"Yeah, maybe I'll get an answer this time." Li tossed him her cell phone and watched while he dialed.

"It's ringing….hey, April? April! Yeah it's me, no, no, it's okay, I'm okay, I swear! I escaped! And you won't believe it, I'm nowhere near New York. Where am I? Uhhh…" He glanced over to Li.

"South Dakota, you're in South Dakota." Mikey gave her a blank look.

"Where's that?" Li's eye twitched.

"In the midwest? You know, where Mount Rushmore is?" Mikey still looked blank. "Seriously? Come on, it's not like we're in the boonies!"

"Uhhh huh, right. I'm in South Dakota." He answered April. Li heard her exclaim through the phone.

"I know! So, have you seen my bros? Oh." His face fell. "Right, hey, do you think you could have one of them call me from your place? Yeah, we thought Bishop might have hacked the system or something, so just in case, so they can't track this number through that one. Uh huh. Oh, who's we? That's Li and Piper, we sorta helped each other out when I escaped. I stayed with them last night. Yeah, no, Li's standing right here next to me. Piper's…I don't know where Piper is, but it's okay they're cool. Tell the guys to reach me at this number. Yeah I'll be fine here." He hung up and handed Li back her phone. At that moment, a large long-haired gray Persian cat sauntered into the kitchen.

"Why hello Miss Sophie, how are you today? I bet you're hungry." Li got a can of cat food from the cupboard above her head and emptied it into a bowl on the floor.

"Wow, I didn't know you had a cat, she's a beauty." Mikey went over and pet Sophie, who purred and wrapped herself around his legs.

"You know, she usually doesn't like strangers. I guess that means you pass the test." Mikey looked up.

"What test?" Li smirked.

"Well, we don't associate with people Miss Sophie Whiskerson doesn't like. But it's okay, you've been approved."

"Heh, good. So, uh, Miss Sophie Whiskerson?"

"Piper came up with it."

"Ahh." In walked said girl with her hair dripping wet and changed out of her pajamas.

"Hello all. Hello Miss Sophie Whiskerson." She picked up the cat and twirled around the kitchen. "And to Mikey you go." She passed the Persian cat to the turtle then spun around him. She grabbed her coffee mug, spun around, than spilled half of it on the floor.

"Oops." She grabbed a paper towel and mopped it up before hopping to the living room and turning on the TV. Li and Mikey followed. Li put her cup of coffee on the coffee table and Mikey perked.

"Is that a pad for Dance Dance Revolution?"

"Yeah, Li plays." Mikey looked ecstatic.

"I haven't seen a video game in forever!" He jumped up and grabbed the pad and the video game lying on the floor next to it and hugged them. The girls stared.

"Umm, do you want to play?" He shook his head enthusiastically. Piper sighed.

"I was watching this." But she got up and helped Li move the coffee table and set up the game. Li got the extra dance pad from behind the couch and she and Mikey stood on the dance pads while Piper went and sat in the arm chair on the other side of the couch.

"So Mikey what level do you usually play?" He smirked at her.

"Expert, you?" She smirked back.

"Same." Piper sighed.

"Oh boy let the games begin."

Leonardo was having a bad day. No, scratch that, he was having a bad week. First Bishop took his little brother, and then when he and his remaining brothers went to get their little brother they caught the wrong van and lost their little brother. After that every time they thought they had a lead it was a trap, he'd never fought so many purple dragons in his life. He didn't even know that many purple dragons existed. Then one of the bigger purple dragons—one he assumed Bishop genetically enhanced—broke his swords. So now he was fighting an army of purple dragons after falling for another trap without his katanas **and **his shell cell kept ringing!

"Ah shell who calls at this time?" He round house kicked a purple dragon as he answered his shell cell.

"April? This is kind of a bad time. Can you call back?" Another well placed kick knocked out a dragon. "Why not? Wait what?!" He stopped fighting, ignoring the goons around him. One of them charged at him from behind, Raph stepped in and kicked him off the roof.

"Fearless! What da shell man that creep just almost clobbered you!"

"Raph shut up!" All his attention was back on the call.

"Where is he? And he called you? You're sure he's okay? He's with who? What's the number? Alright thanks Ap." He turned around and faced his brothers, all the dragons taken out.

"April knows where Mikey is."

Piper was bored, it wasn't that she didn't like video games, give her Mario Kart and she could go for hours, but for the past forty-five minutes she watched two people with huge gaming egos battle it out. At first it was impressive to watch Michelangelo dance while using his ninja talents, and being able to dance on your hands at expert level was something she didn't think she'd ever see. But that was twenty minutes ago and she still hadn't had a turn. She pet her cat as she watched Li pick _Healing Vision_ again, and smirked at Mikey, giving him a wink. Piper looked down at her cat.

"Yeah Sophie I can sense the sexual tension too."

_Blue jeans can I get with you_

_Cause I only want to be wanted by you._

"Li your cells ringing." Her friend didn't turn around.

"Get it will you I have to beat the turtle."

"Sure." She stood up knocking Miss Sophie Whiskerson off her.

"Gamers Addicted Anonymous this is Piper Jones how can I help you today?" She could tell the person on the other line of the phone was confused.

"Uh I'm looking for someone. I think I have the wrong number."

"Sir, the first thing you need to do is admit you have a problem, addictions are a serious thing."

"…I'm not addicted to anything." She sighed.

"That's what they all say. I can't help you unless you admit you need help."

"I don't need help."

"Then I can't help you."

"Um…I got this number from a friend."

"It was right of that friend to be concerned for you."

"I'm looking for Michelangelo." All of Piper's teasing stopped, protectiveness took over.

"Who are you?"

"Do you know where he is? Is he with you?"

"Who gave you this number?"

"I'm his brother. Is he alright?!" She visibly relaxed.

"Yeah he's fine he's playing a video game right now." She heard a laugh on the other end. "I'll get him. Which of his brothers are you? Leonardo, alright hold on." She was back in the living room by now. "Mikey…"

"Yeah dudette?"

"Leo's on the phone." Mikey paused ignoring the arrows on the screen behind him.

"Leo?"

"Yeah." He greedily took the phone from her.

"Leo!" He lost track of the arrows and Alex won the round. She paused the game and they both turned to see Mikey waving his arms excitedly.

"Ahh man am I glad to hear you! What's going on? Oh wow really? How many were there? Ha, you guys need me over there, I could have taken twice that many. Could too. No, what? Oh, yeah, I'm in South Dakota. Yeah, no I'm with these two girls, Li and Piper, they're hiding me at their place. Geez Leo, no need to be paranoid, they're cool. Totally. Wait, what?" He looked over at Li and Piper, who were both sitting on the couch.

"Someone tried to hack Don's system, hold on. How do you know? Yeah? Boy would I like a piece of that scum. Yeah. Hey, do you want me to get a plane ticket or something? Of course I could, nobody would notice. Whatever." He rolled his eyes. "Leo says to stay where we are, they're going to come and get me, then we'll figure out a way to get Bishop's guys off your trail. You got it dude." He hung up the phone. At that moment tires could be heard screeching outside their window. Li and Piper frowned and looked at each other. At that moment, Mikey stiffened. "Wait." He listened and suddenly they all heard the footsteps stomping down the corridor. Li jumped off the couch and grabbed her purse off the counter, trying to grab her pepper spray out of the pocket, but at that moment the door flew into the room.

"Get them!" Piper leapt off the couch and the nearest men went for Li, who was closest to the door. Before they could grab her, Mikey flew into them with a high kick and pushed Li behind him.

"Is there any other way out?" Li swallowed.

"Not unless we jump." He picked up a chair and shoved out two men coming in and smashed them into the hallway. Piper had run into the kitchen to the laundry room and threw Miss Sophie inside before grabbing a pan off the stove. A large thug ran at her, and she managed to evade his grasp and hit him on the back of the head. He was unaffected.

"Crap." Mikey threw another guy down and Li pushed her back into the living room.

"Come on, help me open the door." They moved a side table while Mikey continued to hold off Bishop's men and they got onto the balcony." "Mikey?" Li called uncertainly. He threw a punch and managed to throw one guy into the ones behind them, leaving him with a few seconds to get to them.

"Come on!" With that, he grabbed both of them and leapt off the balcony.

"Aaahhh!" The girls held on to him tightly as they landed. "Can we never do that again?"

"Piper shut up and run!" A shot was fired next to head.

"Oh shit." The three of them took off running, Mikey taking out anyone that tried to stop them as they made their way to the parking lot. "Li you've got keys right?" Li grabbed the keys from her purse as more men surrounded them.

"I'll lead them off you two get out of here!"

"Mikey no!"

"Come on Pipe, they're after him not us."

"But..!" Li opened the door and pushed Piper in, getting into the driver's seat herself.

"We're not going to leave him, so stop giving me that look." Li reversed the car and spun around heading to the battle that was taking place. "Open the door when I tell you to." Piper nodded. Li shifted the car and sped up, not stopping for any of the men in her way, running a few of them over. She hit the brake and turned sharply. "Now!" Piper swung the door open, and called for Mikey.

"Move it!" He jumped into the car and Li sped away temporarily, losing Bishop's men. Mikey looked at both the girls and pulled out Li's cell phone, calling his brother.

"Hey Leo, you know that plan you came up with? Well it's not going to work."


	4. On the Run

On the Run

"Can we stop somewhere to get something to eat?" Li sighed. They had been driving for hours without stopping. Leo and the others had set off in the battle shell to meet them halfway. Mikey had convinced the girls to go to Piper's family in Madison, Wisconsin, convinced that by then they would have left Bishop's men far behind them.

"No, not until we have to stop for gas, which won't be for another fourth of a tank." Piper sighed.

"You know if I had known that we were going to be attacked and have to make a run for it I would have packed some sandwiches."

"Piper?"

"Yes, Li."

"Shut up." Piper looked crestfallen.

"Ah." Mikey patted her on the shoulder. Everyone was tense from what had happened earlier in the day. Li especially looked tired, considering she had been driving since they had left. "Hey Li, just pull over to the side of the road."

"Huh, why?"

"You're tired, I'll take over."

"Umm, I didn't know you could drive." Mikey grinned.

"Yep, I have a van back home."

"Okay." She pulled over and she and Mikey switched places and she immediately lay back closed her eyes. Soon both she and Piper were asleep, leaving Mikey to his thoughts. He frowned when he looked at the sleeping girls in the rear view mirror. If it wasn't for him, they wouldn't have had to leave their home. If they got hurt, if Bishop ever got a hold of them….he shuddered. They had showed him nothing but kindness and now their lives were in danger because of him. He would never forgive himself if something happened to them. He would make _sure_ nothing happened to them. With a renewed vigor and determination he kept driving towards New York, and his family.

One Hour Later…

Mikey pulled into a gas station. "Hey dudettes wake up." He nudged Piper and Li. "Wake up I can't get gas. I need one of you two to do it. Come on wake up."

"I'm up. I'm up." Piper yawned and pulled on her shoes, stepping out of the car. She started filling up the car and walked inside to grab some food. She ignored the middle aged woman behind the counter and walked over to where the souvenir clothing was sold. She grabbed a large sweat shirt and a base ball hat, both featuring the Green Bay Packers.

"At least we know we're in Wisconsin." She looked around for a pair of sweat pants but couldn't find any. "Too bad."

"What's too bad?" Li walked up next to her holding a bag of chips and a coke.

"Hey Li, I was looking for clothing for Mikey, but I can't seem to find him any pants." Li shrugged.

"Well the sweat shirt and hat will help when he's in the car. We'll just have to get him some in Madison." Piper nodded in agreement, threw the clothing over her shoulder and went to get some food. Mikey seemed like the type to like pork rinds, so she grabbed a bag and helped herself to some Gatorade. She met up with Li at the counter and went to pay. Piper grabbed a few dollars from her pocket and handed them to the cashier, then turned to Li. She was standing stock-still and staring at the TV on mute behind the counter. Their pictures were being shown on CNN, along with a warning. The script at the bottom of screen scrolled the same message over and over again.

"Two females ages 21, said to have aided and abetted a known fugitive. Are currently on the run, believed to be heading east. These suspects are possibly armed and dangerous, do not approach. If sighted, call 1-555-673-8921." Piper paled and blinked when the person behind the counter handed her her change. They hurried back into Li's car and shut the doors.

"Drive."

"What's wrong dudettes?" Li and Piper were both pale.

"Inside, on the TV, there were pictures of me and Li, we're wanted fugitives, they know we're helping you!" Mikey sucked in a breath. Damn it, he had hoped their identities would have stayed unknown. "Mikey we can't leave now, they've probably talked to our families, our friends, the school, our jobs….we have nowhere to go!"

"Hey, it's gonna be alright. Leo will know what to do, we'll just change the plan a little. Instead of dropping you two off at Madison, I'll just bring you to the spot I'm meeting my bros, and we'll figure something out." Li took a breath.

"Yeah, okay." She snorted. "Bet my parents are having a field day with this one." Mikey looked at her as he pulled back onto interstate.

"Yeah, why's that?"

"Ehh, I was always the problem child between me and my brother. I wouldn't be surprised if there was money being exchanged."

"I didn't know you had a brother."

"Yeah, he's a few years younger than me. Piper has three like you." Mikey turned toward Piper.

"Wow, really?"

"Yup maybe we should form a club." Li cut her off.

"We'll all be in a club soon, the arrested and convicted club if we don't get to Madison and ditch the car. I'm just betting they know what we're driving."

"What are we going to do about transportation then?" Both girls shrugged.

"We're already on the wanted list, why not add grand theft auto to it?" Li and Mikey looked at her.

"Seriously?" She shrugged.

"Well, from what you told us about this guy, it's unlikely we're going to get out of this, I mean, since he's part of the government and all. I mean, he could make sure we're not let off."

"I guess, so you think we should steal a car?" Piper shrugged.

"How else are we going to get around? It's not like we can take a bus now."

"I guess." But Li didn't really sound convinced. Really, she didn't want to leave her nice car in an unfamiliar place, what if it got stolen?

"Li we could find a parking garage for your car. I don't want to leave it with my family it might get them involved and I don't want that, but I'm sure we could find some place safe for it."

"Yeah babe I know cities, we'll find something."

"Maybe." She still felt unsure about the whole thing. It wasn't going to be as easy as Piper and Mikey were making it seem, nothing was. It was a couple more hours before they were near Madison.

"Hey, what's with the traffic jam?" Mikey was driving and the girls were both in the back seat.

"I don't know, maybe there's road construction." But the farther they moved, they saw that that was not the case. Several police cars blocked the way into the city, and they gasped. The cars were being searched. _They were looking for them. _

"We're screwed."

"No we're not, look." Both girls looked.

"I see cops and a traffic jam."

"No, the semi!"

"What?"

"We can hide in the semi and make it past the check point." Both girls started shaking their heads.

"That's not going to work we'd been seen for sure, and what would we do with my car?"

"It would probably be taken into police custody. Then you wouldn't have to worry about where to park."

"Not helping Piper."

"I can get you two into that truck, I'm a ninja remember?"

"That doesn't make me feel any better. Besides, everyone would see us get out of the car." They looked out and saw some of the drivers were, in fact, out of their cars. Some people were walking toward the police cars to inquire about the hold up.

"I've got it! You two and pretend to go up and talk to the police, I'll cause a distraction, and you two get in that semi."

"What about you?"

"Hello, ninja? Don't worry about it." They grabbed their things and looked at him unsurely. "Hey, don't worry, just walk slowly okay?" They looked at each other and nodded. Piper put on her black and white checkered coat and Li put on her bomber jacket.

"Don't forget to lock the car." Piper rolled her eyes.

"Come on, let's go." She and Li got out of her car and began moving forward like several other people outside. The semi was about six cars ahead of them, so they moved slowly. Neither of them looked back for fear they would look suspicious, but both were wondering what Mikey was going to do. They began to get near the semi and Li looked around nervously. At that moment, Mikey discretely threw four smoke bombs near them. Several people yelled and Piper almost screamed when she felt Mikey grab them and haul open the back hatch of the semi and pull them in. In the next second he closed the hatch and the smoke dissipated, leaving no trace.

"Mikey?" Li whispered.

"Yeah babe?" She shifted and felt something hard underneath her. She was on Mikey's right side, Piper on his left. They all kept still, so as not to make any noise.

"What do we do now?" Mikey looked around. His night vision was a lot better than the girls', though he kept a hand on both their arms to keep them quiet.

"Furniture, we're in a furniture truck. Here, I'm going to move you guys, just move with me." He led them to the back of the truck looking for a place to hide. Good thing it was a furniture truck, and not something else. "Okay there's a couch and a wardrobe over here, stay here and I'm going to break into the wardrobe so the when the police check the truck we can hide." Mikey ripped the plastic off the wardrobe and turned it to face away from the door.

"Can you two see yet?"

"Oh yes I've adjusted to the complete darkness completely, now I'm admiring the nice mahogany desk over there. No I can't see a thing." Li scoffed. He grabbed them both and walked them over to the wardrobe and couch.

"Well, just stay here." They felt the truck lurch forward.

"Here we go." The truck moved forward, than came to a stop. "There's a few more cars ahead of us, we've got a few more minutes." He opened the wardrobe and peered inside. There was only enough room for two people. "Hey, I'm going to lift both of you up here and shut the door alright? I'll hide somewhere else. Don't move or make any sound until I come and let you out alright?" Li murmured in agreement and Piper nodded her head. He guided Piper up into the wardrobe carefully, and waited till she scooted to the side. He turned to lift Li when the truck moved forward again, throwing her balance. Mikey caught her before she fell and made a sound, holding her to his plastron until the truck stopped moving.

"Uh…Mikey?"

"Yeah Li?"

"You're standing on my foot." Mikey quickly let her go and jumped back.

"My bad." He picked her up and deposited her in the wardrobe next to Piper.

"Thanks." He shut the door on them and went to hide. Piper looked over to where she assumed Li's face was.

"You and the turtle need to stop having moments it's starting to get annoying."

"We're not having moments!"

"Yes you are, gawd the only way that could have been more cliché is if you two accidently ended up kissing."

"Shut up, that's not possible, he doesn't have lips."

"Just saying."

"No, shut up I hear voices." Both girls became silent as they heard the truck door open. They say a beam of light through the crack in the doors and heard men's voices.

"See anything?" They heard footsteps coming towards them and froze. The police were getting close to where they were hiding. They heard someone stop near them, a beam of light flashing through the crack in the wardrobe door. They both held their breaths.

"Nope, everything looks good." The men exited and both girls let out a breath. Mikey waited until the semi was moving until crawling out from behind the couch and opening the wardrobe doors.

"Here, I'm going to guide you guys to the couch." He helped them down and guided them over to the plastic covered couch. They all sat down, Piper and Li on either side of Mikey, and began planning their next move.

"Okay, so what now?" Mikey stretched his arms over the back of the couch.

"We need to find another ride, any ideas?"

"We're gonna have to jack a car, then ditch it as soon as we meet up with your brothers."

"Why don't we just call them now, give me your cell." Piper fumbled for her phone and handed it to Mikey. "Aww man, the batteries dead." Piper smacked herself on the forehead.

"Crap, what do we do?"

"Okay, calm down. When we ditch the semi, we'll find a pay phone before we steal another car. Damn I sound like a criminal." Piper grinned.

"Yeah Li, all you need now is a gansta lean." They all started laughing for the first time in hours, while sitting in the dark on a plastic wrapped couch in a semi truck on the run from the law.

Two Hours Later…

"And that's how I won the Battle Nexus Championship." Mikey had just finished proudly telling the girls about the adventures he and his brothers went on in an attempt to pass the time. Li leaned over to Piper.

"Is he talking about a video game?"

"Must be." Piper whispered back.

"He sure seems proud."

"Should we tell him we don't care?" Both girls looked at Mikey who was still talking about his Battle Nexus Championship.

"…And then when we had a rematch and I still managed to kick his shell."

"No, I think that would hurt his feelings." They were lucky it was dark so he couldn't see their bored expressions, but they oohed and ahhed in the right places. He finished his story and Piper sighed.

"Sorry Mikey, I was just thinking that normally Li and I would be in class right now. And here I already paid for this semester." Li sighed too.

"Yeah, and I really hope someone takes care of Miss Sophie Whiskerson."

"Ahh, cheer up babe, I'm sure they took your cat to your parents or something." Mikey put his arm around Li and she sighed.

"Yeah, you're right." A few minutes later, the truck came to a stop. Mikey was up in a flash, his ear against the side of the truck. He motioned to the girls, who he realized a minute later couldn't see him. Instead, he ran to the back of the semi and wrenched the doors open. Light spilled into the dark trailer, and both girls covered their eyes.

"Mikey?" He motioned the two of them out and he lifted both of them to the ground.

"The driver went inside, I think this is where this thing unloads, come on." They looked around and realized they were at the back of a shopping complex.

"Awesome, now we can get Mikey some pants. You looked silly just wearing a sweatshirt. What's your size?"

"Uh?"

"Don't worry I'll be right back!" Piper ran around to the front of the stores and found a Target. Leaving Mikey and Li staring at the place she just vacated.

"Uh…should we?"

"No Mikey no just let her go. We can go find a place to hide while Piper buys pants. I hope she's smart enough not to use her credit card…no she's not. Oh god she's going to get us caught." Li hung her head in despair. Mikey put a hand on her shoulder.

"Don't worry babe, why don't you go find a map so we know exactly where we are. I'll keep watch." Instead, Li pulled her Ipod touch out of her purse and activated the GPS.

"It says we're in….Chicago! Hey, I love Chicago!" Mikey smiled. "What's taking Piper so long? The sooner we get somewhere safe, the sooner I get a shower." She yawned and sat down on the ground.

"Mikey, I got you sweat pants!" Piper came around the corner holding a Target bag over her head victoriously. "Here you go!" She tossed the bag to Mikey, who put on the blue sweat pants.

"Gee, I don't know. This outfit totally doesn't match." Both girls laughed and he gave himself a mental pat on the back. He didn't like to see girls frown. Piper turned and beamed at Li.

"I got us stuff too! Look, tooth brushes, clean clothes, and hair dye, and food. Oh Mikey, I got you a tooth brush too."

"Thanks dudette." Li started pulling the clothes Piper bought out of the bag, grabbing the things she wanted.

"The green shirt's mine. Mikey, keep a watch out okay." Li pulled her shirt off and changed into her new one. Mikey spun around blushing widely.

"Warn a turtle next time will you?" Li looked confused.

"Why?" Piper just shrugged, as she too started changing. "Oh that's better, now all I need is a shower."

"Come on you two, we should get moving. We need to find a way to get a hold of my bros." Both girls nodded following Mikey out from behind the store. A shot went off and Mikey jumped on top of the girls, knocking them to the ground.

"Stay low, and find some place to hide." He jumped up surveying the area, whoever just tried to shot them must've been on top of one of these buildings. At that moment, men in black suits and helmets jumped down from the buildings, Li and Piper jumped up to run, but they were surrounded. A van screeched to a halt and a man in a suit jumped out. Mikey tensed.

"Michelangelo, what a pleasant surprise. And what lovely companions. I will so enjoy adding them to my collection." Mikey growled.

"Bishop."


	5. Many Meetings

A/N: Language warning people! There is a rant containing some nasty swear words in this chapter, other than that, it's clean.

Many Meetings

Piper was starting to wonder when life had gotten so weird. Sure she had interesting stories to tell just like everyone else, if only a little wilder. But this was taking the cake. In the last twenty-four hours she found a giant turtle that knew martial arts, and then she was uprooted from her home, by government agents looking for her giant turtle friend who put her on the most wanted list, causing her to flee and go on the lam. She had to drive straight for twelve hours without a map in order to protect her turtle friend and when she finally thought she was safe she gets shot at by the people trying to dissect her turtle. And now she was watching said turtle kung-fu fight fifteen black trench coat wearing, mutant fearing agents from some creepy anti-alien government task force. Yes, she was wondering how things had gotten so weird so quickly.

"Piper, pay attention!" Snapped Li, who had managed to find a crow bar, and swung it at anyone that got close enough. But Mikey was like a man possessed, trying to fight all the men at once. But it was wearing on him, his adrenaline was fading and it was obvious they were going to have to get out of there fast. But neither Li or Piper knew what to do. It was at that moment Bishop strode toward them, seemingly unaffected by the chaos around them.

"Ladies. Let's cut to the chase, shall we? Call Michelangelo off and I promise you'll live to see another day." Li looked at him like he was crazy.

"What makes you think we have any control over him?" Piper got mad. Piper didn't usually get mad, but now she was mad. What kind of people did this creep think they were? Sell out their friend for their own benefit? What kind of spineless coward would do that? And what kind of coward would suggest it. Yes, weird life or not, the same things still pissed her off.

"You son of a bitch! What kind of twisted ass sicko are you? First you kidnap someone from their family, than you try to dissect them, and when he gets away from you, you chase him, and then say you're going to add two girls to your collection. **AND **then you try to get us to sell him out?! Well fuck you!" She flipped him off. "Are you stupid?! DID you think that was going to work?! Oh let's see if the two people I put on America's most wanted list will help me. Yeah that'll work. You must be one of the **stupidest** people I have ever met! You are seriously fucked in the head! You flipping creepy ass bastard! You can go take a long walk off a short bridge if you think I'm going to sell him out! You sir, are a jack ass." She dramatically pointed at Bishop. By this time everyone had stopped fighting and was watching a girl barely over 5'3" yell at a man twice her size and doing a damn good job at it. He merely closed his eyes.

"Men." He stepped out of the way and several black clad men rushed Li and Piper. Li managed to get a good hit in on the first one, but was backhanded by the one behind him. She gasped but kept her footing. Piper tried to dash to the right, but was caught by the waist and thrown to the ground.

"It seems the two of you aren't as talented as your friend. Pity, I do like a good show." Li growled and lunged at him. He caught the front of her shirt and lifted her off the ground. Mikey watched in horror, but was helpless as Bishop's men kept coming at him. Li kicked Bishop in the leg, but to no avail. He slammed her into the ground and she screamed as her head hit the asphalt. Piper was thrown against a wall and lay there unmoving. Li was pulled back up by Bishop; his black eyes boring into hers. She felt a chill go up her spine, but glared at him anyway. She really hated this man. His lip curled and he threw several yards away from the fighting. She fought to keep her breathing even and tried to lift her head, but her vision was blurring from having her head hit that hard twice in succession. She swallowed and managed to roll over onto her back. It was at that moment three shapes blocked out the sun. She squinted, but couldn't make the figures out. Suddenly, everything went black.

Donatello had barely slept at all for the past week. Every waking moment was spent looking for his lost brother. He would not rest until Michelangelo was back home and Bishop was stopped. But there had been unforeseen obstacles he hadn't calculated, and so far Bishop had been able to outsmart them and stay one step ahead. But then something amazing happened and his little brother was found. The turtles wasted no time, and left in the Battle Shell heading to bring their brother home. There was barely even time to stop by the lair and pick up some equipment; bidding their father good-by and promising to bring home his missing son. Donatello had even allowed himself to become slightly light hearted. When Mikey got back he was going to build him the greatest gaming station known to techno-kind. But his good mood was shattered when the received word that Bishop had found his brother again. A plan was formed to meet his brother and his two mystery companions half way. Unfortunately when they arrived at the arranged meeting area Mikey was nowhere to be seen. Not willing to take a chance, Donatello went to work.

He had been trying to hack Bishop's network for the past eight days, and had finally cracked it when they entered Illinois. After realizing Mikey wasn't coming Donny hacked into the network and tried to figure out where his brother was. It only made sense that Bishop would have put a tracker on Michelangelo, otherwise how would he have been able to constantly find him? Once he came to this conclusion he realized that he could use Bishop's technology against him. By hacking into the network he could find his brother through Bishop. It only took him a few minutes to learn that Mikey was in Chicago; Leonardo quickly ordered them to get there. Donatello was already behind the wheel changing gears when the order was given. He was going to find his brother.

The thing he hadn't counted on was Bishop finding Mikey first. When they came upon their brother, he was single-handedly fighting twenty or so of Bishop's men, his rage palpable in the air. It became obvious why, when they spotted the two girls. A short girl with shoulder length brown hair was lying unconscious against a wall, and they appeared just as Bishop threw a girl with long dark blonde hair hard against the ground. They tensed and leapt down from the roof of the shopping center. They landed next to the long-haired girl, who managed to roll over and blink at them blearily before she fell unconscious. There was blood running down her face. Raphael growled, but Donatello was the first to act. He swung around and kicked Bishop in the face, causing him to stagger back a bit. He leapt in the air and tried to strike Bishop with his Bo staff, but Bishop was quicker and blocked the attack. Counter striking with a punch to Donatello's plastron, he sent him flying backwards. He got up and snarled at Bishop before attacking him again.

While Donatello battled Bishop his eldest brother was busy helping Mikey, who looked at him and smiled gratefully.

"Boy am I glad to see you guys."

"The feeling's mutual. Here, catch." He tossed Michelangelo his nun-chucks before taking out his katanas and attacking Bishop's men, giving his brother a much needed break.

By this time Raphael had started attacking Bishop with Donatello, trying to gain the upper hand. It wasn't working. Bishop hit Donatello, slamming him to the ground, his shell taking the blunt of the blow. Raphael charged at hit attacking with his sias, but Bishop dodged and elbowed Raphael in the back of his head. Raphael stumbled and turned around glaring daggers at Bishop, before attacking again.

With a final swing of his katanas Leonardo finished the last of Bishop's agents. He turned to find Mikey breathing heavily.

"Are you alright to go finish Bishop?" Mikey grinned at him.

"Always." They both moved to go help their brothers, attacking Bishop from behind. Mikey scanned the area to make sure Piper and Li were alright, neither of them were moving. He started whirling his nun-chucks and taking his anger out on Bishop. How dare he hurt them, all they were guilty of was helping him. They tag-teamed Bishop, but once again were unable to do any real damage. When one of them swung, he dodged, and he always managed to lodge hits.

"What the heck is with this guy?" Leo was reminded of the time the four of them, Karai, and Hun attempted to take down Bishop, to no avail. Raphael flew into a wall and broke his train of thought. They weren't going to win this.

"Fall back!" He threw several smoke bombs and they leapt away. He motioned to Raph and they grabbed the two girls, before leaping onto the roof of the shopping center. They flew over a bank and down into the street where the battle shell was parked. Donnie jumped into the driver's seat, and Mikey threw the doors open. They took off, speeding down the street.

"Get us out of here Don."

"On it." He sped back the way they came, east towards their home. Leo looked around, but couldn't find a place to set down the girl he was holding. Mikey took care of it. He took off the jersey and pants he was wearing and balled them up, making a pillow.

"Set her here." Leo arranged her on the floor while Mikey went over to Raph, who held the long-haired girl. She had several bruises on her face, and Mikey's expression tightened.

"When I was fighting Bishop's men he tried talking them into turning on me. They were horrified at the idea. This is Piper." He gestured to the girl on the floor. "She laid into Bishop for the idea, calling him every nasty name in the book." He looked at her and saw the blood caking her hair. "It's my fault they got hurt." Leonardo gripped Mikey by the shoulder.

"It's Bishop's fault and no one else's." Mikey nodded, not really feeling any better, but at least he was with his brothers again.

"Wanna tell me where I can put dis one?" Both brothers looked up to see Raphael holding Li and looking uncomfortable. They looked around, trying to find something that could cushion her head, when Piper groaned. She rolled over on her side.

"Ow." Mikey rushed to her side.

"Hey babe."

"Mikey?"

"Yup." He smiled at her and she rolled over on her back again, trying to remember what happened.

"Here." A hand entered her vision and she looked up and saw two other turtles.

"Three Mikeys?" She heard the Mikey to her left laugh. She grabbed the hand offered to her and was pulled up. She looked at the face attached to the hand that helped her. "Thank you Blue Mikey." She heard Mikey laugh again.

"Raphael you can put the other down here." Piper turned and watched Red Mikey put her friend down where she was just lying. She saw a blood stain where her head had been. She touched the back of her head and looked at her hand it was covered in crimson blood.

"Oh, that's why my head hurts." Leonardo looked at her concerned.

"Raph switch with Donny so he can come back here." Raphael looked over the girl he was holding again and moved to take his brother's place behind the wheel. Piper watched as another turtle wearing purple came over and started examining her head.

"Leo there's some bandages in the container over there, can you bring them to me?" He looked at Piper. "You've got a cut on the back of your head, but it doesn't look too bad. You should be fine once I patch it up." Piper nodded. Now there were four Mikeys. Leo returned with the bandages and Donatello directed Piper to sit down so he could patch up her wound. She looked around for Mikey and found him sitting in the front seat chatting with the turtle that was holding Li. She turned and faced Blue Mikey.

"I don't know what's going on." Leonardo sat down next to her, knowing an explanation was in order.

"I'm Leonardo." Piper interrupted him.

"You're the one I talked to."

"Yes I am. Bishop found the three of you and according to Mikey knocked you out, shortly afterwards my brothers and I found you, and started fighting Bishop. We had to leave the battle and bring you and your friend with us." Piper nodded in understanding. "Don't worry, once we're away from Bishop we will drop you and your friend off some place safe."

"That won't work bro." Mikey had returned.

"Why?"

"Bishop has a warrant out for their arrest. They're going to have to stay with us."

"They can't do that Mikey. We don't know if we can trust them." Mikey looked furious at that remark.

"Can't trust them! Of course we can trust them! They just gave up their entire lives to help me half way across the country! They could have sold me out to Bishop but they didn't! They have been helping me this entire time no questions asked. Can't trust them! That's like saying we can't trust April or Casey. I trust them with my life. I already have." Piper decided to speak up.

"Neither Li or I are going to do anything, besides that creep said he wanted to add us to his collection. If you just left us somewhere he'd find us for sure." Leonardo looked put off. He was still unsure about this.

"Alright they can come with us, but only until we find another option to keep them safe." Mikey nodded. Good enough for now, at least he could keep protecting them. Suddenly Donny came behind him and pushed him down.

"What the shell Don?"

"You've got a tracker on you somewhere. Bishop will find us again, unless I get rid of it." He started examining his brother. "Ah found it." He held up a tiny chip with a blinking light. "It was hidden on the bottom inside cusp of your shell, no wonder you didn't know it was there." Mikey looked horrified.

"Bishop was inside my shell?"

"Him or someone that works for him."

"I was violated by Bishop." He stared blankly at the wall, a sickened expression on his face. Piper took a mental note; don't touch the shells, its personal space for turtles. No wonder he was so shocked when she looked inside his. She sat next to Mikey and patted him on the shoulder. His brothers ignored them. Leonardo took the chip from Donatello and crushed it.

"That takes care of one problem. Raph, how long is it going to take us to get back to New York?"

"Twelve hours if I push it." Leonardo looked at Mikey and Piper, who were looking worse for wear.

"How long has it been since you two ate, or slept for that matter?" Piper shrugged.

"We got some junk food the last time we got gas, but that was before Madison." Leo nodded.

"Piper, none of us can go into restaurant or even pull up at McDonalds. If we stop are you willing to go inside somewhere and get us some supplies? We didn't pack much of anything either."

"Sure."

"Good, wear Mikey's hat and keep your head low. We'll stop when we're out of Chicago." She nodded, happy that she put her money in her pocket and not her purse, which seemed to be missing. Mikey threw his arm over his shoulder.

"You'll have to pick up some pork rinds and Mountain Dew. Maybe you can get us a pizza."

"She'll get what we need." Piper was getting mildly annoyed. Blue Mikey kept on talking for her. She heard something and looked down to see Li mumbling. She woke up and Donny went over to check on her.

"Uh…Mikey?" Piper came up next to her friend.

"That's what I said!"

"Mmhh." Donatello looked at her eyes.

"She has a concussion, that's why she's not making any sense." Everyone ohed. Don picked her up and sat her next to Mikey. "She'll be better in a few hours, just keep her awake." He got to work wiping the blood from her face. Bishop really did a number on these two. But all things considered they were doing a better job of adapting to their new situation then April or anyone else had. Donny watched as his younger brother interacted with the girls. They seemed completely at ease with each other, well he couldn't really tell with the one with the concussion, she was just staring into space, but Mikey and the brunette were laughing like old friends. He always was the best one at making friends. He saw the brunette look at him and decided to go introduce himself; after all she couldn't go around calling him purple Mikey forever.

"Hi, I'm Donatello." Piper smiled at him.

"Piper. It's nice to meet you, thanks for patching up my head."

"No problem." Piper pointed out the girl sitting at the right of Mikey.

"That's Li. Wave hello Li." Li waved at the purple one. "She can introduce herself better when she not concussed." That caused Donny to laugh a little. It felt odd, he hadn't laughed since Mikey was kidnapped.

"I'm glad, she should be feeling better in a few hours."

"Don's our resident doctor and tech turtle. He knows all." Mikey made an ooo-ing sound and wiggled his fingers at Piper. He then took it upon himself introduce his last brother. "That's Raph behind the wheel. He's a hot head."

"Hey!" Mikey smiled at Piper.

"See." She laughed and Li merely looked confused, putting her hand to her head, then frowning when she saw blood.

"Where am I?" Mikey turned to her.

"We're with my brothers now; we're in the battle shell heading to New York. Do you remember what happened?" Li looked distressed and Mikey put an arm around her.

"Hey, it's okay, once when I hit my head, I didn't remember everything right away either, it'll come back. What's important is that you're safe." She blinked.

"We're."

"Huh?"

"We're safe." She corrected him and then closed her eyes in pain. Don noticed this and dug around in his first aid kit. He handed two ibuprofen to Mikey and a bottle of water.

"Have her take these." Mikey made sure she got the pills down, and was going to introduce his brothers, but she looked disinterested and pulled the sweatshirt back over to her.

"Let her sleep, her body's still stressed, she needs to recover." She ignored them and went about fixing her pillow next to Mikey and lay down facing the wall. Shortly afterward they saw her breathing slow. Piper frowned.

"Are you sure she's going to be okay? She's not acting like herself." Don nodded at her reassuringly.

"It's perfectly normal for someone who has head trauma to act differently until they recover." Piper nodded but looked unsure. Mikey looked worried. Donatello needed to distract them and keep their minds off of their friend. Luckily, Leo came to the rescue.

"Michelangelo, what exactly happened to you since we last saw you?" Mikey grinned and began telling his brothers about escaping Bishop, purposely leaving out the details of what happened in the lab. Around the time he got to the part about fleeing from the girls' apartment Piper started to feel her eyelids get heavy. The last thing she heard was Mikey telling his brothers about how he told Li and her about his Battle Nexus Championship before she fell asleep.

Around two hours later she felt a hard shove on her shoulder and heard someone talking to her.

"Hey babe, wake up." The voice started shaking her. "Rise and shine dudette!" She tried to hit whoever was talking to her. Didn't he know she was trying to sleep?

"No, go away." He was getting louder now.

"Come on babe, get up." Piper sat up and glared at Mikey.

"I'm up happy now?" Judging by that smile he was.

"Guess what?" He didn't wait for an answer. "We're outside of Chicago do you know what that means?"

"You won't get mugged for wearing your Green Bay Packers jersey?" The grin didn't leave his face.

"Nope, it means it's finally safe to stop and get some food."

"Oh." It took her a moment. "Oh!" She forgot she had to be the one to get the food and supplies; she was the only one that was human and conscious. She stood up and stretched. "Okay what do you want?" Leo came up next to her.

"We only need a few things, some more bandages, food, water, and—" Mikey cut his brother off.

"Doritos, Mountain Dew, a few movies, pizza and while you're at it get yourself something pretty." Raph hit his brother upside the head.

"Don't listen to this shell for brains." Piper laughed a little as she watched the brothers interact. Leonardo came up behind her, distracting her from Mikey and Raph's antics. He was holding the hat she bought Mikey. She was slightly glad to see some of the things she'd bought weren't lost in their scramble to get away from Bishop.

"Here." He held the cap out to her. Piper put her hair up securing it underneath the baseball cap.

"How do I look?"

"Like a million bucks babe."

"Well thank you, you're not so bad yourself." They both started laughing, as Leo handed her a list.

"Get as much of this as you can. We only need enough to get us through the next few hours, but you, Mikey, and your friend need to eat something."

"Aye aye captain." Piper saluted Leonardo and skipped out of the back of the battle shell. Now that the imminent threat to their lives was past she was feeling light hearted. She may still have a price on her head, but at least everyone was safe and sound.

She covered her eyes when she stepped out of the battle shell. It was brighter then she had expected. She turned and examined the battle shell for the first time; it looked just like a moving van, the only difference was that on the side it said _Tortuga Brothers._

"Well that's not subtle at all." She went inside and got the things Leo wanted on his list, as well as water, soda, and junk food for her, Li, and Mikey. She stood in line to pay, when she noticed a man in black sunglasses idling near the magazines. His outfit looked familiar. She swallowed and hurriedly paid the cashier and hurried back outside. Leo opened the back door and she jumped inside.

"What's wrong?" She put the bags into Mikey's waiting arms and took off the hat.

"There was one of those guys in there, one of those guys that are after us!" Leo grasped her shoulders and looked into her eyes.

"Are you alright? Did he see you?" He looked fierce, his eyes intense. She swallowed and shook her head.

"No, but we have to go." He nodded and jumped into the passenger seat, nodding to Raphael, who started the engine. She settled next to Mikey on the floor and he passed her a soda. He sat next to Li, who still slept soundly. She looked over to see Donatello busy on his computers. She grabbed the magazine she bought and opened it up, ready for a long drive. She was going to have to get used to things like this, after all this is what her life was going to be like from now on.


	6. On the Road Again

A/N: Just a courtesy thing, we love you guys that alerted and put our fic on your favorites list. But we really want to know just what you like about it so we can keep giving it to you! So please review!

On the Road Again

It was late evening, and Donatello had taken the wheel. They were about twenty miles from crossing the border from Ohio to Pennsylvania, when Leo, who had been sitting in the front passenger seat with his arms crossed, began to speak. Li sat next to Mikey on the floor, while Piper had taken Don's seat to his computer and had propped her feet up on the console, reading a magazine. Raphael was seated on the floor, several feet to her left, sleeping.

"Alright, now that we're getting closer to home, we need a direct strategy. We have to stop Bishop's super soldiers and make sure he never harms our family again. And," He looked pointedly at Piper and Li. "We have to make sure the two of you are safe, and somehow clear your names." Piper tossed her magazine to the side.

"We are technically guilty. You know that right? We helped Mikey, Mikey was a fugitive, the charges against us are valid. We would need a pardon." Leo looked her in the eye.

"While that's true, the part about Mikey being an actual fugitive is questionable, since he was kidnapped by Bishop first. What I'm saying…." He paused as Mikey threw a bag of chips at Raphael to wake him up, "Is that we must be prepared. It is likely he will have a team in New York head us off. We need to be ready for anything. The tunnels will likely be blocked off, and that's our only way in, unless we take a water route."

"How we gonna do dat? Those two can't exactly hold their breath as long as we can." Raph pointed to Piper and Li. Li looked at him.

"You mean we can't go over the water?" Don hmmed.

"You know, I could do what we did when we battled Shredder. This thing is completely remote capable, we could set it down through the tunnels and sneak onto a ferry." Everyone looked at Leo, he rubbed his chin.

"That **could** work, if it was just us. But we have them to think of." He gestured to Li and Piper, but didn't look at them. Piper felt her hackles rise. What was up with this guy? "We'll need to be invisible, which normally wouldn't be a problem, but we'll have to compensate for their lack of ability." Piper snapped.

"Hey Di Vinci, you wanna stop talking about us like we're not even here? It's rude. And guess what, we stop somewhere and Li and I can change our appearance enough to sneak on a ferry and not arouse suspicion. **We're** not the giant turtles."

"She's got a point Leo." He looked over at Piper, annoyance on his features.

"And just how do you plan to escape from Bishop if you're caught?" She put her hands up.

"Whoa, just cause you don't have a good plan doesn't mean you have to take it out on me, he thought of it." She pointed at Donnie. "And you don't have to worry if we get separated, both Li and I have been to New York before, and she's a great navigator." Li gave Leo a thumbs up. "And if we do get caught, we should plan for that anyway. We can feed this guy some bull about how we'll turn you in or something. Besides do you really think it will come to that? There are a lot of time variants and lapses in your plan. If you send in your truck and Bishop is able to stop it---I assume this bad boy could go for quite awhile before quitting--- it would take some time before he was able to figure out where we are. By that time we should be able to be on a ferry, and I may know how long that ferry ride would take, but chances are we'd make it to Manhattan before Bishop and his men could find us."

"And what if they do?" Piper looked at him with utter and complete confidence.

"Mikey would save us." Leo blinked and Mikey grinned cheesily.

"Totally." Raph crossed his arms.

"Geez, Mikey the babe magnet, who woulda thunk?"

"What can I say bro I'm irresistible to the ladies." Piper and Li looked at each other but didn't react. They didn't want to pump up his ego anymore than it already was. Meanwhile, Leo was glaring at Piper.

"Look, I appreciate your input, but I really think---" But Raph cut him off. He waved an arm lazily.

"Come on Leo, she's right. It'll work, it worked before, Don can figure out the tech stuff and we'll ditch this thing at the tunnel and hop on a ferry."

"Yeah bro, sounds okay to me." Donnie nodded.

"Right, I'll just need someone to take over in a couple hours and I can get this all set up." Piper sat up straight.

"I can drive for awhile." Leo shook his head.

"No."

"Oh you are kidding me. What the heck is your reasoning for this? I've been driving for years, probably longer than you have."

"You don't know the controls to the battle shell."

"You're right I don't know how to operate a steering wheel or the gas and brake pedals. What was I thinking? Trying to be helpful to the turtles that just saved my life, how could I have been so insensitive?" Piper dead panned. She was starting to get really sick of Blue Mikey.

"There are controls other than the steering wheel. What if you hit something and set one of the rockets off?"

"You could point out what not to touch." Leo was silent for a moment.

"No."

"Oh god damnit. Fine." She picked up her magazine and sat down next to Li. Li looked over at her, but chose not to say anything. Frankly, she still wasn't feeling well. Mikey cleared his throat.

"Sooo, anyone up for Go-Fish?"

Five Hours Later…..

"Okay, it's set. Everyone ready?"

"We're not going to be there for another hour." Donnie turned around brightly.

"Yes, but it's best to be ready for anything." Leo stood up.

"Donnie's right. Put on your disguises." Piper pulled out a bag and started handing the contents to Li. They had to make another quick stop to buy proper disguises and Piper's wallet was suffering because of it. She handed a red wig to Li, along with large reading glasses and a cheap white tee-shirt and blue jean jacket. Piper had thrown on a Yankees sweatshirt and a blonde wig, covered with Mikey's baseball hat.

"You know I was this close to buying the fake glasses with the mustache attached." She turned to Leo and grinned. "I would have gotten them for you and made you wear them." Leo blinked. He realized he was going to have a hard time figuring this one out. Now she was perfectly pleasant to him. At least he thought she was being pleasant to him.

The turtles were dressed in their respective human get ups. Donny was wearing a white trench coat, Mikey was in an orange hoodie, Raph in a large jacket and beanie and Leo with a leather trench coat and fedora.

"Hey, this ain't no time to play." Li got up and stretched languidly.

"You're right." She purred, and walked over to Donatello.

"What can I do to help." He looked surprised. It was the most she had spoken the entire trip.

"Ummm, well, I've got everything set up, we just have to wait." Mikey was currently in the driver's seat, everyone else was in the back. She went and moved up into the passenger seat next to Mikey and yawned.

"I can't wait till we get to your place, where did you say it was again?" Mikey grinned.

"Underneath Central Park, and it totally kicks ass!" Li hmmed.

"Huh, you know, I spent some time in Central Park over Christmas, I might have been right over your guys' place and I didn't even know it."

"Crazy." Mikey and Li continued to chat. She was feeling better, her head had stopped hurting and she was anxious to be out of the battle shell.

"You know dudette, when we get home I'll have to take you and Piper and show the two of you New York. Not the tourist stuff you did, but the good stuff. I'll show you where to get the best pizza, and the best pipes for boarding. And you should see the set up we've got at the lair. It's awesome!"

"First things first. Where am I gonna sleep, I'm still tired." She stretched and looked at him expectantly.

"Uhh, you can sleep in my room!"

"No!" All three of his brothers turned and yelled at him. He didn't think they were listening.

"Mikey what are you thinking? You can't have her sleep in your room. What would Master Splinter say?" Mikey shrugged.

"Uhhh, something about honor and then go meditate?" Leo smacked his hand to his forehead.

"Look, it'd be best if they went to stay with April until we get things taken care of, she'll have everything they need." Li frowned.

"Isn't April your human friend? Are you sure that's a good idea?" Leo turned to her.

"Why not?" Li shrugged.

"Well, if they're trying to find us, then they might find her too. Then you'll be trying to rescue three girls instead of just two."

"No Li, you don't understand. Di Vinci here doesn't want us around his family. That's what he's saying. It doesn't matter that it might put his human friend in danger, so long as it keeps us out of his hair that's all that matters."

"That's not it at all." Piper glowered at Leo, standing her ground.

"Really then what is it?"

"You two come from the country do you really think you would be comfortable living underground in a sewer?" He was thinking about their comfort? That took her by surprise.

"Yeah, it would probably bother us, but not as much as ending up in jail, or in Bishop's lab would." Li shrugged.

"I've always been a basement dweller, I think it sounds cool." Mikey smiled.

"See, they don't mind." Li shrugged.

"Besides, it'd probably be best we lay low until this thing blows over anyway." Leo sighed.

"Fine, the two of you can take Mikey's room. Mikey, you'll stay on the couch."

"Awww."

"Would you rather bunk with Raph again?"

"…No." Piper suddenly piped up.

"Don't worry Mike we can have sleep-overs all the time." Mikey cheered. Leo glared.

"That would not be appropriate." Li gasped.

"Sleepovers aren't appropriate? You poor man. It's okay, you can join us, and then we can show you how much fun sleepovers are!" Leo blinked. Did the blonde one just make a pass at him?

"Uh, no that's alright." Li shrugged.

"Suit yourself." She skipped over to where Piper was sitting trying to read her magazine. She grabbed the magazine from Piper's hands and started reading it.

"Hey! I was reading that."

"And now you're not."

"You can't do that." Piper tried grabbing her magazine back from Li, who held it over her head.

"You were reading it too slow."

"I was not."

"Yes you were. Now go away. Don't you know it's rude to talk to people when they're trying to read?" Piper sat glaring at her blonde companion. Raph looked at the two bewildered.

"I thought she was supposed to be the nice one."

"Oh no I'm the nice one; Li just wasn't feeling well before. I was starting to get worried."

"Trying to read here."

"See she's right as rain. So Red Mikey what do you do for fun?" Li suddenly threw the magazine back at Piper.

"Done, you can have it back now." She stood up just as Mikey took a fast turn and lost her footing, running into Raph.

"Sorry." Raph set her upright.

"No problem toots." Li blinked. Toots?

"Almost there!"

"Right, everybody ready?" Li and Piper looked at him attentively, while the turtles, sans Mikey, stood up. "Alright, remember the plan. We don't want to bring any unwanted attention to ourselves." He looked at Li and Piper.

"We'll be watching from the shadows." The girls nodded as Mikey pulled over to the side of the road. He turned off the truck and the turtles quickly disappeared. It was dark, so the girls quickly moved into the front two seats and exited the car, looking confused. The plan was to pretend the truck had broken down, and start walking toward the crowd moving toward the ferry, like they were looking for help. They started walking toward the dock, trying to look nonchalant, though Piper couldn't help but look around. Was Bishop watching them?

"Darn, and here I thought we had enough gas." Piper snapped out of reverie at Li's line.

"Yeah, guess we're going to have to call someplace. Maybe this place has a phone we can use." They had decided to have a fake conversation in case Bishop could hear them, unfortunately, neither of them in their disguises looked much like truck drivers. Li lowered her voice.

"Do you see them?" She was referring to the turtles. Piper looked around discreetly.

"Uhhh, wait, near the pier, remember? Come on, let's speed up a bit." They walked a little faster, and walked over to the pier, looking like they were waiting to board like everyone else. Li leaned against a post casually, looking for the world like she was entirely comfortable. At that moment, a hand touched the small of her back. She jumped.

"Shhh, we're old friends okay?" She turned to see Raph behind her. He gave her a look and she nodded.

"Ralph!" She threw her arms around his neck like she hadn't seen him in years. "Baby, I thought you were going to be late!" Raph winced.

"A bit thick, dontcha think?"

"No. A bit thick would be giving you a kiss and grabbing your ass."

"Come on let's get you on that boat." Raph started leading Li away and on to the boat. It was decided that two of the turtles would stay with the girls in case Bishop happened to find them. Don and Leo would find someplace safe and navigate the battle shell from there. Piper looked around, waiting for Mikey to come.

"Hey." She turned around startled and saw Leo standing in front of her.

"I thought Mikey was my guide."

"Plans changed."

"Oh." Leo held his arm out for her, and Piper laughed.

"You must watch a lot of old school movies. Guys don't do that anymore. Here." She grabbed his hand and attempted to figure out how to hold it with a mix matched finger count.

"Books actually."

"Huh?"

"I read a lot of old literature."

"Oh…that's cool. My favorite books are actually all written about a hundred years ago so I know how that goes." They started walking up the gang plank.

"Which ones are those?"

"All the _Sherlock Holmes_ stories and _Frankenstein_."

"Ah, I actually prefer Japanese literature."

"Mikey said you were raised in a slightly Japanese manner."

"Yes, our father's from Japan." By this time they were on the ferry and looking out at the harbor. Piper could see New York and suddenly it felt like a ton of bricks had been dropped on her. It hadn't hit her yet. When she was on the run with Mikey and Li, and then later in the battle shell, it hadn't hit her how much her life had changed in such a little time, and now looking at the New York sky line seemed to make everything real. Leo noticed her change in manner.

"Is something wrong?"

"The police would have contacted my dad by now. I wonder how he reacted when he found out I'm a wanted fugitive." They stood in silence for a moment. "I always tried to never disappoint him." Leo put his hand on her shoulder.

"You helped someone who was need. I know what it's like to never want to disappoint a father. But I'm sure if he knew the truth he would be very proud of you." She shrugged.

"I hope so." They moved into the thick of the crowd and away from the railings. She spotted Raph sitting inside with his arm around Li, who was putting up a good facade of being a girlfriend who had just seen her boyfriend in a long time. She turned to Leo.

"Should we go inside too?" He shook his head.

"I need to be able to see. Just in case something happens." He led her over to the wall and the turned toward each other, shrinking down a little so the people around them hid them from view. He didn't say anything else, so she just stood there, feeling awkward and anxious. Suddenly Piper's breathing quickened, and she ducked behind Leo, who towered over her. He looked at her, concerned.

"What is it?" She was pale.

"Don't turn around. One of those guys is here, Bishop's guys. They all dress the same, I'd recognize them anywhere." Leo's eyes narrowed.

"We have to warn----" But at that moment a loud roar was heard. Everyone turned to look at the commotion. One of the men had tried to grab Li, enraging Raph when she was thrown to the ground. He attacked the man, as several more appeared out of the crowd.

"Stay here." Leo sprung out from the shadows and ran to help his brother.

Li wasn't really sure what happened. She was having fun bothering Raph by playing an obnoxious girlfriend and then the next thing she knew she was being thrown on the ground and Raph was fighting off a group of men. He whipped out his sais and spun them around his hands.

"You're gonna regret dat punk." He charged at the men jumping at the last moment and landing behind the lead one, spinning around and knocking him out. Li watched as Leo appeared from around the corner and started helping his brother.

"How did they find us so fast?"

"I don't know Raph I just hope Donny and Mikey are okay." They fought off the men and Raph grabbed Li before heading out onto the deck of the ferry. The other people moved away, and security guards rushed forward, only to be knocked back by Bishop's men. They were backed against the railing, Raph and Leo in front, Li and Piper being pushed against the railing. As Bishop's men circled them Mikey and Don jumped from the upper level of the ferry and landed behind Bishop's men.

"Hey bros."

"Where da shell were you two? What happened?"

"Bishop was better prepared than we anticipated. He not only had men setting up a blockade at the tunnels, but had men on all the ferries as well."

"Guess we're gonna have ta fight our way inta New York." Raph charged at the men, breaking their formation.

"Mikey, get the girls out of here." Leo joined in with Raph and started fighting Bishop's men, creating a gap where Mikey could grab the girls and escape. As Mikey reached the girls one of Bishop's men came and blocked their escape route.

"Freeze!" He pulled a gun on them and they froze. Thinking quickly Mikey tossed the girls over the side of the railing before Bishop's man could react.

"Ah!" Leo looked at Mikey in horror.

"You idiot, what if they can't swim?" Mikey turned around and Donny dove overboard after them. Raph and Leo looked at each other.

"Aww shell." Leo threw a smoke bomb and they dove overboard after Donny and the girls. They hit the water and tried to find their brothers and the girls.

The girls had resurfaced quickly after being thrown overboard by Mikey and found a barge to hide under. They divided again and swam to the barge, the turtles following behind them. Once reaching the barge they resurfaced and looked around. Bishop's men were still on the ferry looking for them.

"What are we going to do?" Leo started looking around and found a drainage pipe.

"How long can the can the two of you hold your breath?" Li and Piper looked at each other.

"Uh…"

"That's going to have to work."


	7. Only in New York

**Only in New York**

"**You know this is a lot different than my last trip to New York." Piper, Li, and the turtles were walking in the sewers trying to get to the lair. Piper wrung out her shirt trying to get rid of the excess water, stepping over something she didn't want to identify. "Yup loads different."**

"**Nobody wants to hear it Piper." Li glowered at her friend. **

"**Just saying."**

"**Pipe it Piper." Mikey snickered, and Leo gave him a look.**

"**It's not too much farther, than you girls can clean up and we can figure out what we're going to do. Master Splinter must be informed about what has happened."**

"**Master Splinter, your father right, and he's a rat?" Leo nodded, steadying Piper has she stumbled instinctively.**

"**Yes, you'll meet him and we'll call Casey and April." Personally, Leo was counting on Splinter to 'test' the girls. While he was pretty sure by now they were trustworthy, he would only be certain when his father told him for sure. They turned down another pipe, the sewers were almost pitch black in the night, and if not for Mikey and Leo holding onto Li and Piper, they would have tripped into the river by now. Li had no idea how long they had been walking, only that they had a ways to go yet, and she understood. They had come from the west and their home was under Central Park, it was more than a few blocks. But she was tired, cold, had a killer headache from the cold water they had to swim through. Not to mention almost being kidnapped again. She was exhausted. Another half hour passed and the passageways started to lighten.**

"**Almost there babe." She sighed in relief when she could see more than a few feet in front of her. Donny stopped and pulled a lever and the wall slid open in front of them. They walked into a large spacious room with incredibly high ceilings, with water flowing through the middle of it. At that moment, a five foot tall rat wearing Japanese robes walked into the room.**

"**My sons, you have returned." Piper stared, but Li sniffed and went right over to Splinter and hugged him. Leo gaped.**

"**Li!" He hissed. "That is not respectful." But Splinter smiled and patted her head. **

"**I see you have brought home guests with you my sons." **

"**Yes, I'm sorry Master Splinter, this one has hit her head and has been suffering from head trauma."**

"**It is no problem my son." By this time Li had stopped hugging Master Splinter but was still hovering around him. She found the old rat's presence very comforting. Mikey stepped forward.**

"**Sensei this is Liara Currant and Piper Jones they helped me when I escaped from Bishop. We had to bring them here, Bishop is after them." Splinter was silent for a moment.**

"**I see." He looked at the girls, gauging them. "You are welcome to stay here for as long as you need. Thank you for bringing my son back to me."**

"**It's no problem, Mikey's saved us more than we've saved him." Splinter went over to his youngest son and held him by the shoulder.**

"**I am glad you are home my son. I have missed you." **

"**Thank you sensei." Splinter released his son, and looked at the girls who were still dripping wet.**

"**Now the two of you would like to get cleaned up, I'm sure. Donatello, would you please show our guest were they can take a shower."**

"**Of course sensei." Both girls looked at Splinter.**

"**Thank you." Once the girls were out of the room, Splinter looked at his children.**

"**We have much to discuss my sons."**

**Later…**

"**Mikey, do you have any extra blankets?" Li came into the room in some of Mikey's oversized sweats, hair wet and her face red. She didn't look too good.**

"**Yeah, hold on, here, sit on the couch." She went and curled up where he had been sitting watching the news, and watched as he went into one of the rooms. The others were still in the dojo, Mikey came out when he realized they had nothing to wear. He came back with several old blankets and tucked Li in on the couch.**

"**You don't look so good, you could be getting sick." He put his hand on her forehead.**

"**Well, do I have a fever?" Mikey laughed nervously.**

"**Uhh, I don't know. I just see people doing that on movies." She yawned. "Go to sleep, we'll talk later." She nodded and curled up in the blankets he brought her. Mikey muted the TV and went and knocked on the bathroom door.**

"**Are you done in there?" Piper opened the door and steam rolled out. She was wearing a pair of Donny's sweatpants and one of his shirts, they looked even bigger on her considering they all had at least half a foot on her. She was toweling her hair dry.**

"**Yeah, I'm done." She followed him into the main room and she went straight for the armchair next to the couch. Mikey tossed her a throw blanket and she went and laid down, putting up the footrest and leaning the chair back.**

"**Wake me when you know something." He gave her a thumbs up and headed back into the dojo, closing the door quietly behind him. The others looked at him expectantly.**

"**They're both asleep, well, Piper's about to go to sleep." Leo nodded.**

"**Right. Master Splinter are you sure it's a good idea to have them stay here with us?"**

"**Yes, Leonardo I believe they are trustworthy, and they are welcome to stay here until we can put their lives right again."**

"**We can call April, she might have some extra clothes and things for them." Donny nodded.**

"**I'm on it." He flipped his shell cell open and dialed April's number. Raph looked at the others.**

"**So what are we gonna do wit em?" Leo frowned. **

"**We need to convince Bishop to leave them alone. As long as he's after them, we can't leave them alone." Raph crossed his arms.**

"**But they're delicate. Especially the taller one, she got da most problems." Mikey shook his head.**

"**Totally not how I'd describe them. Besides, they aren't afraid to give it the old college try, I mean, they don't know a thing about fighting and they sure weren't running scared. They're tougher then you think. They both stood up to Bishop and not many people can say that."**

"**Still don't think they're that impressive." Raph grumbled.**

"**Oh Raphael? Perhaps you should change that." Splinter challenged. "It is our fault their lives have changed, it may be a good idea to teach them the basics of ninjutsu. I am glad to see you have volunteered my son."**

"**I didn't mean it like that!" Splinter gave him a challenging look.**

"**Oh my son?"**

"**I mean I…fine I'll train them, but only one I don't want two worthless fighters."**

"**Remember Raphael, you once were at the same skill level as those two."**

"…**Yes, sensei." **

"**Now my sons you must tell me what exactly it is that Agent Bishop is planning."**

**Li stretched and yawned. She untangled the blankets around her and sat up, rubbing her head. She had a huge caffeine headache. She looked around blearily and spotted Piper sprawled out on an armchair next to her. She leaned over to try and nudge her, but Mikey's huge pants almost came off her. She stood up and tightened the drawstrings of the orange sweatpants and shook Piper's arm.**

"**Hey, wake up, come on." Piper mumbled something unintelligible and opened her eyes, her hair standing on end. **

"**Whazzzat?" She saw Li, her long hair looking like it had never seen a brush, in a huge Batman T-shirt and huge orange sweatpants. She put the footrest down and stood up. She stretched her arms over her head and adjusted the purple track pants she borrowed from Donny. She managed to snag his 'School House Rocks' T-shirt, which she thought was hilarious. They looked at each other wearily.**

"**Coffee?"**

"**Coffee." They wandered into the kitchen area of the turtle's lair. **

"**Where do giant turtles keep their coffee?" Li shrugged.**

"**Check the cupboards." Piper started opening all the cupboards looking for coffee, she ended up finding a box of **_**Frosted Flakes**_**, she put to the side for breakfast, and coffee cups, but no coffee. **

"**Let's find Mikey, he can make us coffee." The girls wandered around the lair looking for their misplaced turtle friend. They ended stumbling into the dojo and found said turtle and his brothers practicing. **

"**Flying dragon kick Leonardo. Raphael, you're leaving your side exposed." Splinter turned when he sensed the girls enter the dojo. "Ah, so you have awoken. How are you feeling?" The turtles stopped and looked over at Li and Piper standing in the doorway, looking ridiculous in their clothes and their wild hair. **

"**Mikey, where's your coffee?" Mikey walked over to the girls and they followed him out of the room. Raph shook his head.**

"**They didn't even look at the rest of us! They went straight to him." He shook his head in wonder, amazed that Mikey was the girls' go-to guy. **

**Piper and Li followed Mikey out of the dojo with him happy to get out of training early. "You two have been asleep for twelve hours. We thought you might have died." **

"**No, but we will unless you find us coffee." **

"**No worries dudettes, I'll even make you pancakes." Piper got tears in her eyes.**

"**Mikey I love you. Please don't ever leave me." **

"**I love you too dudette, now let's go make breakfast." Piper nodded enthusiastically and followed her favored turtle to the kitchen. He set them down at the table and started brewing a pot of coffee, then set about making breakfast. As they were all eating happily April walked into the lair, carrying two bags.**

"**Hey guys." She walked to the kitchen and threw her arms around Mikey. "I was so worried about you."**

"**Ah April, Bishop didn't dish out anything I couldn't handle."**

"**Still." She still looked at her young friend concerned, before noticing Li and Piper sitting at the table. "Oh hello, I'm April." They paused eating and looked at the newcomer. She was the same height as Li, and had shockingly red hair. She was dressed casually in a long purple coat and black boots. "Donny called me and told me you don't have anything to wear. I hope these fit." She handed the girls the two bags and they emptied them out on the table. Several shirts and pants fell out onto the table, as well has packs of underwear and even a few bras. Mikey turned red and busied himself making food. Li held up one of the bras in wonder.**

"**Hey, how did you know my size?" April smiled.**

"**Well, Donny told me!" Both girls stopped and stared at her.**

"**What?" April frowned.**

"**What's wrong?" Li spoke slowly.**

"**How did Donny know my bra size? I barely even talked to him, let alone tell him my sizes!" Piper nodded.**

"**Yeah." Just then said turtle wandered into the kitchen. The girls looked at him suspiciously over their coffee cups. April went over and hugged him, the girls still watching him. He noticed the bags and beamed.**

"**Good, now I can get my clothes back!" The joke was aimed at Piper, who regarded him carefully. He noticed their expressions.**

"**What? Is there something on my face?" Li stood up and crossed her arms.**

"**How did you know my bra size?" Donny scratched his head and blushed.**

"**Well, I knew just by looking at you. And your inseam, shirt size, I can just tell by looking. Honest!" As the girls continued to look at him suspiciously Mikey came over and put his arm around Li.**

"**Awww, Donny means well, he can't help the fact he's a perv." Donny looked scandalized, and turned purple.**

"**Mikey!" April sighed.**

"**Calm down everyone. Donny's not a perv, he's just good at measuring, come on now, I'll help you." She grabbed the clothes and ushered the girls out of the room. She took a bag out of her purse and pulled out a tube of mascara.**

"**Sorry, I was in a hurry and I have a date to get ready for. I hope you girls don't mind." Li and Piper eyed the mascara.**

"**Not if you let us borrow that. I feel naked." Donny and Mikey watched as the girls discussed makeup and went into the bathroom. Mikey got a shrewd look on his face.**

"**Soooo, what are their bra sizes?" **

**Piper was skipping around the bathroom happily trying to decide what to wear. "Oh make up I missed you. Three days and not washing your face, brushing your teeth or wearing makeup can really get to a girl." Li watched her from the doorway. She was wearing a pair of dark jeans and a white T-shirt. Piper skipped around in light jeans and a Rolling Stones T-shirt. April got a variety of things since she didn't know what they like to wear. She hit Piper right on.**

"**Having fun?"**

"**Aren't you?" Li sighed and posed.**

"**Heck yes. I'm clean, have new clothes, and am wearing mascara. Never better." They headed into the living room where the turtles were sitting. Well, Mikey was sitting. Leo was talking to Master Splinter, Raph was beating on a punching bag, Mikey was playing video games, and Donny was toying with the battle shell. Piper wandered over to him.**

"**How'd you get it back?" Donny turned around.**

"**Heh, after all the commotion, I turned on the 'home signal.' Brings it right back here."**

"**Cool. Was it damaged?"**

"**Not too bad I'll be able to repair it in a few days."**

"**Neat."**

"**Can you hand me that wrench?"**

"**Yeah sure." She handed Donny the wrench and started watching him repair the battle shell, helping whenever she could. "So was this originally a moving truck or did you modify it to look like a moving truck?" **

"**Bit of both actually, our old battle shell was trashed, but I scavenged whatever I could and started building this one. The frame is from an old junker I found at my favorite junk yard. I built the rest myself."**

"**Including the controls you would have needed to drive it remotely?"**

"**That's just a little something I whipped up a few years back." She continued to help Donny while Li surveyed the room. Mikey she had no trouble with, but truth be told, she was a bit intimidated by everyone else. Not to mention she was in their home, she felt kind of shy. Until she saw Splinter. She headed straight for him and gave him another hug. As soon as she saw him, she felt better. He was like a teddy bear, except better. And his fur was soft, she just wanted to cuddle him and feel better. Leo watched her, beginning to understand. She was just scared, and she saw Splinter as someone that comforted her. He felt bad for getting mad at her earlier. Sometimes he forgot that not everyone was used to fighting and living the way they were. These were just two girls that happened to have kind hearts and helped his brother. And now they were in danger just because they were their friends. They had to help them. No matter what.**

"**Are you feeling better Li?" She nodded, still not sure of her opinion of the eldest turtle brother. **

"**Miss Currant, my sons and I were discussing the situation aiding my family has put you in, and it has been decided that it would be prudent to teach you and Miss Jones to defend yourselves." Li raised an eyebrow.**

"**You would teach us ninjutsu?"**

"**If you are willing to learn." **

"**I've always wanted to learn martial arts. Then maybe next time there's trouble I won't be completely useless." Leo put a hand on her shoulder.**

"**There won't be a next time." He said solemnly. Splinter motioned toward Raphael.**

"**Raphael has volunteered to teach you, isn't that right my son?" Raphael stopped hitting the punching bag and muttered irritably. Li looked unsure.**

"**Are you sure? I mean, can't you do it?" Raphael walked up to her.**

"**What, don't tink you can handle me?" Li surveyed him, he was standing with his arms crossed, several inches taller than her, looking as mean as a bulldog.**

"**Yeah. I just don't want to." She turned away from him and back to Splinter.**

"**Can Mikey train me?" Raph growled.**

"**You want dat shell fer brains to train you instead a me? Are you serious?" She turned back to him, her hair hitting him in the face when she turned around. He sputtered.**

"**He's nicer. Also, I learn better in an encouraging environment. And I hear he won something called Battle Nexus and you didn't." **

"**It was a fluke he won! A fluke! I'm a better fighter and I'd be da better teacher."**

"**I don't want you to teach me."**

"**Well too bad I am! Now get in da ring, we'll start with basic fightin stances." Li followed Raph to the center of the dojo and started her training. Splinter was smiling to himself.**

"**Sensei, did you know that was going to happen?" **

"**Leonardo, what would give you that idea? Now on to the matter of Miss Jones. Would you be willing to train her my son?"**

"**If you would like me to Master Splinter." **

"**Yes I think it would work out quite well if you trained her. Where is our other guest anyway?"**

"**Talking to Don. I'll go get her." Splinter smiled to himself again before he started watching Raphael try to teach Li the basics of ninjutsu.**

"**Okay first tings first, let's see what you've got. Attack me." She stared at him. He stared back. "Well."**

"**I never make the first move." He gaped.**

"**What? Why not?" She crossed her arms.**

"**Jackie Chan said so." He smacked a hand to his forehead.**

"**Forget dat, now come on." She shrugged and walked up to him. He tensed and waited for her to hit him. Instead of attacking she surveyed him and sashayed up to him, her hips swaying. She got really close to him, and Raph felt his breath hitch. This was the closest he'd ever been to a human female. She leaned up right against him and put her hand in his belt, pressing her body into his. Then she hit him.**

"**What da shell was that?!" Raph was spluttering. Li shrugged.**

"**When I'm faced with an opponent I know I have no way of beating I try to distract him, and then attack." **

"**Well don't! Dat move is now off limits. You can't use it eva again." **

"**Well it worked didn't it?" Raph was flustered.**

"**I don't care, dat ain't ninjutsu! Now, when ya hit someone, ya do dis!" He demonstrated a punch and she examined her nails.**

"**Not my style hon. Besides, I don't have the strength to back that up." He paused, she was right.**

"**Okay, change a plans. Drop and give me twenty!" She sighed. She knew that comment would give him ideas.**

"**Fine." She got down and started doing push-ups, Raph yelling at her for not doing them right. Leo and Piper watched wide-eyed several yards away.**

"**Can we not do it that way?" Leo cleared his throat.**

"**Fine by me." But Leo put his hands on his hips.**

"**He's got the right idea though. You need to get stronger." He motioned to the floor. She sighed.**

"**Gee thanks Li. This is totally your fault." She copied Li and began doing push-ups, Leo counting them down. **

"**Now when you finish those, run ten laps around the dojo, and then I will assess where you are. Do you have any fighting experience?"**

"**I was on the fencing team in high school."**

"**Fencing?"**

"**Yeah sword boy, fencing." She would have glared at him, but she was busy doing pushups. Leo hmmed and a thoughtful expression appeared on his face.**

"**We might be able to put that to use in your training."**

"**Great." She huffed. She continued doing pushups until Leo told her to stop and do laps. She was going to get Li for this. Speaking of Li, Raph had the same idea about running laps that Leo had. She caught up to her friend and glared.**

"**You just had to go and seduce the angry one?"**

"**How else was I going to win?"**

"**But you didn't."**

"**Next time." The girls continued running, both silently deciding to ask April to bring them sports bras on her next trip down. **

**Several Hours later………**

**Both girls were on the couch, looking exhausted. They had done push-ups, laps, chin-ups, sit-ups, more laps, and taught to properly hit and kick. Li had shown talent in the hand-to-hand combat department, while Piper had trouble. Until Leo gave her a katana, when she started to try and fence with it. Needless to say, Leo had his work cut out for him. All four turtles entered the room and headed for the door, Master Splinter coming from the kitchen.**

"**Be careful my sons." Li and Piper sat up interested.**

"**Where are you going?" Leo turned toward them.**

"**Out patrolling. We need to see if Bishop has posted men around the city, and if they're still looking for you two." Li got up, Piper following her, and went and hugged Mikey. Piper copied her.**

"**Be careful Mikey!"**

"**Yeah, be safe. Da Vinci, keep Mikey safe." Mikey grinned.**

"**Don't worry babes, the Mikester will be fine." Raph rolled his eyes as both girls hung onto Mikey, making a fuss.**

"**Aww, put a sock in it." Li turned toward him. He backed away.**

"**What?" She asked innocently. He glared. Leo opened the door.**

"**Alright, alright, come on guys."**

"**See you babes later!"**

"**Bye Mikey!"**

"**We love you!" Raph huffed and the door closed behind them. Both girls returned to the couch, Splinter settled himself in the armchair and grabbed the remote.**

"**Now then, have you ladies ever watched the Gilmore Girls?"**

"**Let's stop and get some pizzas later, I think the girls only eat cheese….I wonder how many I should get?" Mikey pondered while the brothers flew over rooftops. "Maybe five." Raph looked at his brother.**

"**Five?" **

"**Li eats a lot." Leo interrupted their conversation.**

"**We can bring home food after patrol…do they both eat that much?"**

"**Yeah." Mikey started skating on some ice that had accumulated on the roof, deciding where to get the best pizza.**

"**So not only are they cramping our style and taking over our free time cause Splinter wants us to train 'em, but now we're going to use all our money ta feed 'em? How useless are these girls?" Mikey stopped and punched his brother in the face.**

"**What's your problem Raph?! Useless? Yeah, cause they saved me, that's real useless." Leo frowned.**

"**He's right Raph, if it weren't for them, we wouldn't have Mikey back. We owe them." Donny leapt next to Raph.**

"**He's just embarrassed about earlier." **

"**Why, what happened?" Raph growled and punched Donny in the shoulder.**

"**I am not!" Mikey looked between them curiously.**

"**Come on guys, what happened?" Donny smirked.**

"**Let's just say Li got a little bit too close for comfort." **

"**How'd she do that? What happened? What'd she do to you bro?" Raphael hit his younger brother.**

"**Drop it numbskull. It ain't important." Leo held up a hand.**

"**Quiet, look." They crouched down and peered over the edge of the roof they were on. Several men in black wearing masks were carrying crates into a warehouse. "Purple dragons." Raph growled.**

"**What are we waitin for?" **

"**No! Wait." They watched as a van drove up and the men boarded it and drove away. Leo nodded. "Okay." They leapt off the roof and kept in the shadows, sneaking through the large dilapidated doors into the building. It was pitch black, the crates the men had been carrying stacked in the middle of the room. Donny lifted his head and frowned.**

"**Do you guys smell something?" Leo looked around.**

"**Look, this place is full of old machines, it's probably got old fuel in here."**

"**Yeah, you're right. Mikey started moving toward the crates, but Donny stopped him."**

"**Wait, no…it's not motor oil…it's…methane! We have to get out of here now!" The turtles headed for the exits, running as fast as they could, but it was too late.**

**A loud explosion was heard across town. **


	8. Breaking the Ice

A/N: Thank you Puldoh and I LOVE MIKEY, and May Day Alert for your reviews. You made our days, thank you.

Breaking the Ice

Splinter, Li, and Piper sat on the couch with a bowl of popcorn between them watching the Gilmore Girls. Li had her feet propped up on the coffee table, with Piper slouched next to her waiting for the turtles to come back. Just then, Splinter's shell cell rang.

"Ahh, excuse me ladies." He flipped open the phone and looked at it. "Hello, is anyone there? Hello?" A loud burst of static filled the room followed by Donny's voice.

"Father? We------explosion-------Leo----hurt-----I" Just then, they lost the connection. The girls stared at the phone in fear. What happened? Splinter tried to dial the phone.

"We must call Casey Jones, if only I could work this thing." Li took it from him and hit the appropriate speed dial button. She listened to it ring anxiously.

"He's not answering! I just got his voice mail, what happened to them?" Splinter looked grave.

"My sons are in trouble. We must go to them." The girls looked at each other.

"We?"

"Yes." Splinter walked over to the battle shell. "I do not know how to drive."

"Well?" Donny shook his head.

"The phone cut out! I have no idea if he understood me; you know how bad Master Splinter is with technology." Raph groaned. They were caught underneath two pillars crisscrossing over them, the remains of the building trapping them beneath it. Leo and Mikey had taken the brunt of the hit, and ended up buried under debris. Raph and Donny had been almost directly in front of them, and only had superficial damage. Don immediately called Master Splinter when they freed Mikey and Leo; Mikey had burns all along his shell and the backs of his legs and arms, while Leo had been buried under several supports, and had taken the most damage. One of his legs was swollen, and he was covered in cuts and blood. He had taken a blow to the head and was unconscious and needed immediate medical attention.

"Don—ny?" Leo weakly reached for him. Don rushed over.

"Leo, don't move. It's alright, just stay still." Raph leaned over him nervously, blood dripping from the gash on his arm onto the floor. Mikey lay propped up against part of what used to be a wall breathing heavily. At that moment, sirens sounded outside. The fire department had arrived.

"Oh crud." All the turtles froze. They knew what the sirens meant, if they didn't die now, then they would be taken to the zoo or sent to be dissected in a lab. No, the sound of sirens was a very bad thing.

"Donny what are we going to do?"

"What can we do?" Suddenly, another sound filled the air. Raphael cocked his head to the side.

"It almost sounds like….da shell cycle!" He and Don shared relieved looks.

"Master Splinter must have called Casey! I hope he goes around the back!" But suddenly another sound was heard. An engine roaring was coming closer, and closer. Suddenly, the battle shell burst through the debris, almost taking out Mikey. The turtles blinked into the bright headlights, bewildered, when the doors opened.

"I told you I could drive this thing." Donny gaped.

"Piper?!" She came over to them and kneeled down next to Leo.

"Hey, we gotta get him inside." Splinter appeared from the other side of the battle shell, and he and Donny quickly hauled up Leo.

"Master! What are you doing here? Where's Casey?" Splinter frowned.

"Casey Jones did not answer his phone, so we have come to your rescue." At that moment, the shell cycle zoomed in to a stop right in front of Raphael. His jaw dropped.

"Li?!" She pulled off his helmet and grinned.

"Sorry, I couldn't resist." He just stared as she sat straddling his bike, wearing his leather coat and red helmet.

"Is anyone here?! Hello! Can you hear me!?" The firefighters and police had started searching the building.

"That's our cue to leave."

"All aboard the turtle express, now leaving for anywhere but here!" Everyone but Raphael and Li ran into the battle shell. Li and Raph stared at each other. Li raised an eyebrow.

"What?"

"I'll take my bike back now."

"Oh no Raph you're injured…you can ride bitch." She smirked at him.

"What no! Dat's where da girl sits!"

"I don't see your point."

"Li! Raph! Move it!" Donny's voice sounded from the battle shell. Raph jumped on behind her and she revved the engine. They took off, but his arms wound around her and he took back the controls.

"Hey!"

"Ain't no way I'm letting you drive if I gotta sit back here!" She huffed and moved her hands to the inside of the handlebars, letting him take the controls.

"I really don't like this." She felt like she could tip over the bike if they came to a sudden stop. Raph smirked.

"Don't worry, I got you." She glowed with embarrassment. It was true, he had to reach around her to use the controls.

"Whatever." They made their way back a different route than the GPS on the battle shell had taken them, they followed the battle shell to an alleyway that opened up into an underground tunnel once Donny hit a button in the battle shell. They drove through the tunnels, taking only five minutes for them to reach the lair. Donny hit a button that acted like a garage door opener and the wall in front of them slid upward, allowing them to drive in before closing. Raphael and Li jumped off the bike and ran over to the battle shell, helping the others lift out Leo and Mikey.

"We can put them over here." Donny directed everyone to his make shift infirmary in his lab. "Raph, can you get me the first aid kit? I need to stitch Leo up."

"Hey Don I can help I was a pre-med student for awhile." Don looked up from Leo, surprised.

"Sure, Piper there's some gauze over there. Can you take care of Mikey? Then take a look at Raph's arm."

"No problem." She went about examining a groaning Mikey's burned shell. She got some ointment and started slathering it on, Mikey sighed.

"That….feels great." Li was getting more gauze for Mikey's head; she closed the gash with butterfly closures before wrapping it. Mikey smiled at her.

"Come on babe, don't frown." She looked him in the eye.

"Mikey, you guys were almost killed! You're my friends, I don't want you to get hurt!" Her lips wobbled and Mikey hugged her.

"Awe, its okay babe. It takes a lot more than that to defeat us, don't cry." Donny and Raph listened uncomfortably. At that moment, Leo groaned and tried to sit up.

"Leo! Take it easy, it's alright! Don't move, you almost broke your leg, and I'm still trying to stitch up your arm." He opened his eyes.

"What….happened?" Donny grinned.

"Li and Piper came to our rescue." Leo's eyes widened.

"What?!"

"Well, the Gilmore Girls was starting to get boring, and we wanted to see more of the town." Piper smiled at him. "Actually it was more Master Splinter than us, we just drove." She went back to putting ointment on Mikey's shell.

"But Master Splinter how did you find us?"

"You may thank your brother and Miss Currant for that, my son. She was able to find a device in the battle shell that allowed us to track the signals in the shell cells."

"Li?" Li had composed herself and gave the eldest turtle a confident smirk.

"It's true I saved your lives."

"She pushed the flashing button."

"Shut up Piper." Leo lay his head back down and sighed. Well, nothing was broken at least. Don shooed everyone from the room.

"Go on, let him rest, I'll watch him." Raph, Li, and Mikey left the room, but Piper lingered in the doorway. Don, realizing what she wanted, excused himself.

"I'm just going to go make a pot of coffee." He left the room and Leo opened his eyes. Piper cleared her throat.

"I wasn't serious you know."

"About what?"

"When I said protect Mikey, I meant protect yourself too."

"I'm the older brother, I have to watch out for them." He closed his eyes again, leaning against the pillow.

"But who watches out for you?"

"I can watch out for myself." She frowned at him.

"That doesn't seem fair." Leo opened his eyes and looked Piper in the eyes.

"It's my duty." She turned and headed toward the door.

"Well, just know….you don't have to do it alone." She exited the room and quietly shut the door behind her. She headed into the main living area to hear Raph address Li.

"So….where'd you learn ta ride?"

"On the farm. My brother and I had a couple dirt bikes we used to ride everywhere. We'd make trails and ramps and go all over the place. I kinda missed it."

"Ya lived on a farm?"

"Yeah, once we moved I didn't get to ride my bike as much, it's been a few years since I rode."

"Well don't tink I'm gonna let you ride my bike again anytime soon…though ya might be able ta sweet talk me inta givin' ya a ride." Raph left Li standing there, a little stunned. Once he had left the room Piper emerged from her hiding spot.

"Ooo the turtle's gonna give you a ride. Remember to bring protection Li."

"Piper!" She started chasing after her friend with the intent to kill.

"A helmet! I meant a helmet!" At that moment a tall man with long shaggy black hair burst into the room.

"Okay, where's da fire? Guys? What? Who da shell are you?" The girls blinked.

"Well, he talks like them."

"You wouldn't happen to be Casey Jones would you?" Li addressed him. He scratched his head.

"Uhh, yeah, and you are?"

"Liara Currant."

"Piper Jones."

"Yeah? No kidding? You're dose girls dat helped Mikey! We even share a last name." Piper blinked.

"Uhh, yeah."

"Ha! So, where is everyone?" The girls looked at each other and shrugged.

"Don't know."

"Neither of you know where four giant turtles and their rat are?"

"Shouldn't it be a rat and **his **four giant turtles?"

"Uh?"

"I think Donny's in the kitchen making coffee."

"Leo's in the infirmary." Casey paused.

"Why, what happened?" They looked at each other.

"Casey!" Don walked into the room and Li sighed and left the room, confident he would take over.

"Hey, where are you going?"

"To Mikey's room, he said we could have it. Let's go kick him out."

"Good idea."

Agent John Bishop had done many things in his long life to protect the Earth. Others may be blinded to the good he had done for the world, but he had done more for this planet then any of its puny minded inhabitants could dream of. He knew firsthand the danger aliens brought to the planet. It was his purpose to keep this planet pure. It was his god given right! Yes, it was his purpose, his goal, and the reason he existed, to protect this planet and keep it pure.

That is why he did what he did, to protect this planet. That is why he captured the turtle and found out what makes him tick. If he was able to isolate the mutagen that altered the turtles DNA then he could use it himself and create super soldiers.

He made a mistake before though; he had tried to create super soldiers by combining his DNA with the rat's. No, now he knew what to do, he had to start with a live copy, not one he created. His clones were too unstable, but if he started with something already stable and living then his plan would work. Then he would have the perfect army to protect this planet with. But so far he had failed; the turtle had escaped before he could isolate the mutagen. He thought he had enough data to work with, but all of his experiments went wrong. He looked down at one of his failed experiments, before turning his back and walking out of the lab, leaving his scientists to deal with the mess they created. After their last failed attempt at acquiring the turtles, he was getting impatient.

"Get it out of here." He needed the turtle back.

"Pass the popcorn!" Piper passed Li the popcorn bowl, who gave it to Mikey, who sat in between them on the bed. They had overtaken Mikey's room and moved their clothes into his space, then promptly went through his things to find something to watch on his TV. They had chosen _The Creature from the Black Lagoon._ When Mikey came in to hit the sack, he found them sprawled out on the bottom bunk of his bunk bed, trying to work his VHS. He had promptly declared it a slumber party, made popcorn, and joined them in watching the movie. While Mikey and Piper laughed at the scary parts, after everything they went through and learning mutants existed Li was feeling uneasy. The creature of the black lagoon could be real. That, and horror movies had always given her nightmares, even the cheesy ones. She masked her fear by eating large amounts of popcorn, then focusing on said popcorn whenever there was a scary part.

She looked over at the other movies scattered on the floor, trying to find a different one to watch next, when the door opened and Donny entered. She looked up at him and screamed just as Kay was kidnapped by Gill-man. All she had seen in the dark room when the door opened was something tall and green. Piper began laughing.

"Ha! You should have seen your face!" Donny looked embarrassed.

"Sorry, I just wanted to see if you guys needed anything….are you going to stay in here?" He asked, looking warily at Mikey. Mikey waved a hand in dismissal.

"Don't worry dude, I'm gonna sleep on the top bunk, and those two are going to double on the bottom, its cool." Donny hummed.

"Well, alright." Piper sat up excitedly, she just had a great idea.

"Donny, stay with us!"

"Uh…"

"It'll be fun next we're gonna watch _Monty Python and the Holy Grail, _and Mikey has cookies in the oven, but they're only for slumber party guests."

"Cookies?"

"Yeah bro, you know my famous chocolate chip cookies?" Donny looked at his brother sandwiched between two pretty girls their age, in their pajamas. Cookies, girls, Monty Python, girls, popcorn, and girls how the shell could he pass this up?

"Do you mind scooting over?"

_**The Next Morning….**_

"Where da shell is Donny? He needs ta take care of Leo!" Raphael and Splinter stood over Leo, who was awake, but barely. Splinter nodded.

"Go find him, I will watch over Leonardo." Raphael left the room and began opening every door, looking for his brother. He opened Michelangelo's door and gaped at the scene inside. Piper had attempted to get up on the bunk bed, but didn't quite make it and was snoring. Mikey was sprawled out on the floor, covered with popcorn, and Donatello and Li were on the bed, Li hanging over the side with her foot in Donny's face, while he was laid out on his shell, twitching. Raph took a deep breath.

"Wake up!!!" Piper jerked, fell to the floor with a thump, and kicked Mikey, who yelped and smacked his head on the TV. Donny jumped and stared at him like he'd never seen him before, and Li didn't move a muscle.

"Where's the fire?"

"What da shell were you tree doin'?" Piper rolled over on the floor and attempted to get up, but tripped on Mikey again.

"We were having a slumber party Red." She had finally managed to stand up. "And now we are going to have traditional post slumber party breakfast pancakes. Onward my slumber party turtles, breakfast awaits." She stumbled out of the room, and made her way to the kitchen.

"What da shell?" Raphael stared bewilderedly at his brothers. "What were you guys doin'?" Mikey stood up brushing imaginary dust off him.

"We were having a slumber party and now I have to go make my first traditional post slumber party pancake breakfast." He left for the kitchen. "And next time knock." They all filed out of Mikey's room, sans Li, who still hadn't moved. Raph glanced at her, then shut the door.

"Hey Mikey, save me some pancakes, I need to go take care of Leo."

"Yeah dude, no problem." Donny made his way to his lab, feeling guilty about leaving his brother alone all night. He hadn't actually meant to stay the night, he was just going to watch the movie and have a few cookies then go back to his lab, but one movie led to another, and another, and before he knew it he woke up next to Li from a sugar induced coma. Hopefully Master Splinter wasn't too mad at him for being irresponsible.

"Good morning Sensei." He bowed to his father sitting next to Leo who was looking better. "How are you feeling Leo?" Leo sat up and tried not to wince, he was anxious to get out of the infirmary and get back to training.

"Good. I think I'll be able to start training again in a few days." He flinched as Don was examining his stitches, blowing his cover.

"Try a few weeks, nice try though, but you don't need to stay in here anymore." Leo smiled and swung his legs off the bed, he had heard someone say something about pancakes earlier.

"Great let's go—"

BEEP

Donny went to his computer to see what the message was. He grinned when he realized it wasn't a message at all.

"I'm in." He began typing rapidly, his father and brother standing behind him trying to figure out what was going on.

"Donny?"

"Bishop changed his firewalls again, but I was able to piggy back on an email and now I'm back in the system. Last time I was trying to learn Mikey's location, I didn't bother looking into any of the research he was doing. This time I'm going to figure out exactly what it is he's doing…oh god."

"My son?"

"I knew he was making super soldiers, but I had no idea…how could he do something like this?" Donatello pulled his chair back from his computer and let his father and brother examine what was on the screen. Leo and Master Splinter had the same horrified look in their eyes he imagined was on his.

"I must meditate on this my sons. Do not speak of this until I have decided on a course of action." Splinter left Donny's lab leaving the two turtles staring in revulsion at the monitor. They now knew exactly why Bishop needed Mikey's DNA.

Several hours later, Li blearily opened her eyes. She stumbled to her feet and contemplated. Should she get coffee first, or a shower? She felt her hair, which was sticking up. Shower, definitely shower. She made her way to the bathroom, which was empty, and grabbed a red t-shirt and jeans from the clothes April brought them. She sighed sadly when she looked at the one bar of soap in the shower. She really needed to tell April to bring them shampoo and conditioner. She made due and battled with combing her hair once she was dressed. She opened up the cupboard hopefully, but all there was inside was a jar of turtle wax. She sighed despondently and headed into the kitchen, clean and awake. She frowned when she walked into the living area, only to see Mikey, Raph, and Piper playing video games. She grabbed her friend by the back of the shirt and pulled her away from the turtles. She looked Piper dead in the eye.

"This can't go on."

"I'm not that bad at video games."

"No, not that. This!" She pointed to the bar of soap she was holding.

"Soap?"

"There's no shampoo! No conditioner! Just hand soap! Aren't you worried about your hair?" Piper gasped. It didn't seem like a big deal yesterday, when all she wanted was to get the smell of sewers off, now she realized how serious the situation was.

"You're right! What are we going to do?"

"There's only one thing to do. We must contact April, she is our only connection to the outside world."

"That's kind of depressing, but you're right. Come on." They went and sat down next to Mikey.

"Mikey, you must call April right away. It's an emergency!" Mikey and Raphael looked at them.

"Why, what's wrong?"

"Mikey, we have hair." He blinked.

"Uhhh, I know." Piper was frustrated.

"Mikey, we need hair _products_! Shampoo and Conditioner! This soap just dries it out and tangles it!" Mikey and Raph examined their hair.

"Looks fine to me."

"Yeah, me too." The girls sighed.

"It is not right!" Piper leaned over and snatched Mikey's shell cell from his belt, and found the speed dial button that connected her to April.

"April!"

"Uhh, who is this?"

"It's Piper, quick, I need hair products. Shampoo, conditioner, and possibly a flatiron! Oh, and some body wash would be nice too." Li, Raph, and Mikey listened as they heard April respond, then both she and Piper laughed.

"You got it!" She hung up and Li looked at her expectantly.

"Well?" Piper gave her a reassuring look.

"She'll bring them later." Raph rolled his eyes.

"Gurls."


	9. One Step Closer

A/N: Thank you I LOVE MIKEY, Rainey and Jack's girl for reviewing! Ten points for each of you. On a side note, Shke Behet posed this question to me the other day, "What does Casey do for a living?" In the 07 movie he worked for April, but what about other than that? We had no idea, so if anyone does, please speak up. It's driving us insane.

One Step Closer

Piper muttered an obscenity under her breath as she stared at the ceiling above her head. According to the clock in Mikey's room it was five in the morning, and she was wide awake. She had been trying to get back to sleep for the past fifty-three minutes to no avail. She sighed and climbed down from the top bunk. She might as well do something productive. She left Mikey's room trying not to trip and wake up Li. Mikey had given the girls the bunk for the night and went to sleep in Raph's room. Piper was grateful, as Li kicked in her sleep. She headed toward the kitchen to make coffee, when she heard grunting coming from the dojo. She paused, someone was training. She went over the door, intending to peek in and see who it was, and leave. She slid the door open a couple inches and blinked.

"Da Vinci, what are you doing?" Well, it was obvious what he had been trying to do. He had been trying to do push-ups, but was laboring with each one. She stood in the doorway in a black pajama set April bought her and sighed.

"I thought Donny said you weren't supposed to train." He paused.

"I'm fine."

"Not what I asked. Come on." She went over and grabbed his arm.

"Hey, what are you doing?" She helped him up, mindful of his wounds. He limped.

"I'm going to make you breakfast, come on." He didn't say anything as she helped him out of the room and settled him at the table, before going and starting the coffee.

"I'm not as good of a cook as Mikey, but I make a mean cup of coffee. Really mean too, one time it bit me." She looked at Leo expecting a response. He just stared at her. "That was a joke Da Vinci, you're supposed to laugh." He continued looking at her in silence. "You really don't have a sense of humor do you?" She got up, poured them both a cup of coffee, and went about making eggs and toast.

"I do too." She turned around and smiled at him enthusiastically.

"Ah he speaks! Speak again, bright angel!" He cocked an eye ridge at her. The smile dropped from her face. "It must be tough living without a sense of humor."

"I do too have a sense of humor."

"No I don't think you do." She placed a plate in front of him, and started eating. Leo stared at his breakfast; Piper had arranged it in the shape of a smiley face.

"A smiley face?"

"Yes, you see Da Vinci if you had a sense of humor, you would enjoy your happy breakfast."

"I do too have a sense of humor."

"No you don't, but it's okay Leo you're good at other things!" She patted him on the head. "Like being honorable and telling people about how to be honorable." He stared at her. She sighed. "I'm going to go take a shower." As she walked out of the room Leo realized that she had called him by his name for the first time. A smile spread over his face and he finished eating his smiling breakfast.

Several hours later Li woke up and yawned. She looked at the clock and groaned. If she didn't get up now, there wouldn't be anything left for her to eat. She headed to the bathroom and sighed when felt the spray of the warm water. Now slightly awake, she exited the shower only to remember that she didn't have any clean clothes. April had only brought them enough for a few days, and all the dirty clothes were on the floor of Mikey's room. She examined the last clean towel in the cupboard. She'd have to make a break for it. She wrapped it firmly around herself and tucked the end in above her chest. It barely covered her, but it would have to do. Maybe Piper would have a solution. She quickly untangled her hair with the comb laying on the sink, thanking the heavens that April had brought them hair products. She had her hand on the door handle and was about to run to Mikey's room when someone opened it from the other side, pulling her with it. She blinked into Raph's plastron. Damn.

"Uhh, sorry." Raphael stared at Li, he hadn't expected to find her half naked when he decided to brush his teeth. She was dripping wet and he could smell her shampoo. She smelled really good, and that towel barely covered anything, he was going to have to thank whoever provided it. He stepped closer to her, smirking.

"No problem babe." Li shuddered, when Mikey called her babe it was cute and affectionate, but when Raph called her babe it was something else entirely different it was erotic, and sent shivers down her spine. She had to look away from his face as a blush covered hers. Bad idea she ended up focusing on his arms, every muscle was well defined and she felt her knees weaken a bit. She always had a thing for guys with muscles and Raph was ripped.

"Uh, I'll just be leaving now." The smirk on his face grew.

"You don't have to leave on my account." Her face must have been bright red by now, she needed to get out of the bathroom, the steam was making her light headed or was that Raph? At that moment Piper happened by, and seeing the situation unfolding at the bathroom door, decided it was time to intervene.

"Hey Li, come over here, I need to talk to you." Li jumped on the distraction.

"Uhh, yeah, okay." She quickly hurried after Piper towards Mikey's room, intent on asking her about getting more clothes. Raph watched her walk away.

"Hate to see her go, but love to watch her leave." Piper and Li got into Mikey's room and shut the door.

"What was that about?" Li looked helpless.

"I don't know!" Piper sighed.

"Damn woman, what's up with you and these situations, you remember that one time when we lived in the dorms…" Li cut her off.

"I know, I know, and he was trying to embarrass me on purpose." She sighed. "Whatever, I'll just pretend it didn't happen. So, any clean clothes for me to wear?" Piper looked at the floor, where their other clothes were.

"There would be if we had a washing machine. Guess we have to call April again. Hang on, I'll go get something of the guy's for you to wear, and grab Mikey's shell cell." She left the room and went into the living room where Mikey was playing video games. She sat down next to him.

"Li needs clothes to wear and I need your cell." He blinked.

"What happened to her other clothes?"

"They're dirty, we need to use April's washing machine and find a way to get more, we only have like four things each." Mikey grabbed his cell and dialed April's number.

"Hey Ape, the girls need to wash their clothes, do you think we could----uh huh. Yeah, thanks okay." Piper looked at him expectantly.

"She's not home, but she said we can go over there to use her washing machine, and that she has some clothes she put aside of hers for Li, since they're the same size. I guess Li has to wear my clothes to get over there huh?" Piper got a wry look on her face.

"Or she could just go in her towel." She glared at the hopeful look on Mikey's face.

"Oh not you too."

"Huh?"

Several minutes later saw the three of them staring at the entrance to the tunnels, Li once again in Mikey's clothes, looking like a child playing dress-up. She had to hold the pants up.

"Let's make this quick or I'm going to lose these, where's the van?" Mikey shook his head cheerfully.

"Don't need it! This tunnel leads straight to April's house!" The girls gaped at him.

"There's a tunnel that leads straight to April's house?" Piper's eyes narrowed in anger.

"Mikey why didn't you tell us there was a tunnel leading to April's house?" He shrugged.

"It didn't seem important."

"Mikey we could have gone over there and used her shower and gotten the stuff ourselves instead of calling her every time we needed something and inconveniencing her."

"Oh."

"Yeah." They started down the tunnel, Mikey leading the way. It only took about ten minutes before reaching her basement. They went up through her shop to her apartment upstairs, where Mikey showed them the washing machine. Piper loaded all their dirty clothes and started it, while Li started going through the clothes April left for her on the bed. She came out in a purple shirt cropped above her belly button and baggy pants.

"Wow, you look like a slut."

"It's not my fault. They're April's clothes, not mine."

"Do the rest of them look like that?"

"Um, yeah." Piper nodded in thought.

"Well Raph's going to like that." Li smacked her.

"He was just being dumb. Don't say that, I'm wearing a hoodie over it." They went into the living room to see Mikey eating April's food and watching her TV.

"So, how long till our clothes are clean?"

"A half hour, then another half hour to dry them." They sat down next to Mikey on the couch, looked like they were going to have to wait.

Back at the Lair…

Leo used all of his ninja prowess to sneak in and out of Michelangelo's room and make his way back to the living room undetected, he didn't have much time. Mikey would be back with the girls anytime now. He had to act fast, quick as lightening he turned on the TV and placed a DVD in the player. He was going to prove to Piper that he had a sense of humor. He just needed to take a few notes is all. As _Talladega Nights_ started playing, Leo brought out a pen and paper, watching the movie intently and occasionally jotting things down.

"What are you doing?" He jumped. It was just Raph.

"Uhhh, nothing, you know, just watching a flick." He attempted to be nonchalant by lounging and putting his arms behind his head.

"Uh huh. Right, so you seen Li? If we gotta train them girls, I wanna get it done before patrol." He went over to the punching bag and began hitting it.

"She, Piper, and Mikey went to April's to wash their clothes. They'll be back later." He grunted.

"Ah shell now I gotta wait for her ta get back." He flipped over the couch and sat down next to Leo, who had gone back to studying Will Ferrell. Leo broke his attention from the movie when Raph started laughing. He didn't want anyone to know what Piper said, but he wanted a second opinion.

"Say Raph…do I have a sense of humor?" Raph didn't even pause.

"No."

"Oh." Raph paused, now he wanted a second opinion about something.

"Hey Leo…do you think Li's hot?"

"Uh, not really." But he was starting to think Piper was.

Back at April's…

"Okay, that's all of them." Piper and Li finished folding their clothes and putting them in a duffel bag of April's to go back to the lair.

"Come on dudettes, let's go! We're having pizza for dinner!" They looked at each other and hurried down the stairs.

"Sweet, let's go!" They went back downstairs and joined Mikey at the mouth of the tunnel. Li slung the duffel bag with their clean clothes and the clothes April leant her over her shoulder. She frowned at the short purple shirt she was supposed to wear. Didn't April believe in shirts that covered her stomach? They started walking through the dark, dank tunnels, looking forward to pizza. Oh, and their daily training session. Suddenly, a clang was heard up ahead, and Li bumped into Mikey's outstretched arm.

"Wait, stay here. I'll check it out." Mikey left the girls alone in the sewer and went to investigate. They followed him at a distance. About fifty yards ahead was an alcove with a ladder that led topside, the manhole recently replaced and slightly ajar, leaving a sliver of light illuminating something on the ground. The girls moved forward cautiously.

"Mikey?"

"Stay back." He moved forward, nun-chunks out. He moved closer to the object, and when nothing jumped up at him, knelt down to the ground. He lifted what looked like a tarp and recoiled. Li walked forward so that she was behind him, and plugged her nose.

"Oh god." He replaced the tarp quickly and jumped up and pulled her away.

"Come on, we need to tell the others."

"Guys?" Piper hadn't gotten a look at what was under the tarp, and she wasn't sure she wanted to know. It seemed to have Mikey worried.

"Not now. I'll explain later, we need to get home." The girls remained silent as they hastened their pace to keep up with Mikey.

Back at the Lair…

"Knock knock."

"No."

"Knock knock." A sigh was heard in the lair.

"…Who's there?"

"Spell."

"Spell who?"

"W-H-O."

"No Leo that ain't funny. Try again."

"A man walks into a bar and says ow."

"Give it up Fearless."

"Your mother's so fat when she went to the beach the whales sang 'we are family'."

"Leo stop. You're not funny ya don't have a sense of humor and ya need ta shut da shell up before I clobber you." Leo looked crestfallen, and resolved to watch more Adam Sandler movies until his sense of humor developed. Just as he was about to watch another movie Mikey ran into the room, the girls following behind him.

"We got a problem."

Several minutes later…..

"Dammit. We gotta do someting!" Everybody was gathered in the living room where Michelangelo had shared his find. Piper eyes widened with everyone else's. So that's why Li was so pale. What she didn't understand is why she and Li were the only ones that didn't know what was going on.

"Okay, will someone explain what the heck is going on?" Leo looked her in the eye.

"This is….complicated."

"Then uncomplicate it." He sighed.

"Bishop has been doing….experiments using Mikey's DNA. It's why he took him captive, so he could use our DNA to mutate humans and create an army." Li's eyes widened.

"So you're saying that the….body, was a reject?"

"Yes. And it's why we need to stop him. We can't let him keep hurting innocent people." Piper looked away, unable to keep eye contact with Leo any longer. It felt like he was speaking directly to her. She felt a chill go down her spine, the look he was giving her was so intense it almost frightened her. She understood then it wasn't just his family Leo felt the need to protect, it was every innocent life and every person that couldn't defend themselves, and that included her. At that moment she never felt so happy to be included in a group before.

"We need to move the body before anyone else can find it. Stay here." He was looking directly at her again. She couldn't break her gaze from his. _'God his eyes are intense.'_ She could only nod as she watched him and his brothers leave.

"Be careful." She whispered underneath her breath. Master Splinter stood and looked at her and Li.

"Since your teachers are busy, I will instruct you. Come." Li and Piper looked at each other as they followed Master Splinter to the dojo.

With the Turtles…

"What do you make of it Don?"

"Looks like Bishop tried to mix the DNA of a human and what looks like snake DNA. I can't be sure until we get it back to the lab."

"We ain't takin dat ting back with us."

"How else am I supposed to examine it?"

"No. Dat ting was a person." Leo understood what his brother was getting at.

"Raph we can bury the body after Don learns exactly what it is we're up against." Raph had some choice words to say, but in the end agreed.

"I don't want Li seeing dis ting." His brothers raised their eyebrows at him. "She doesn't need ta see it."

"That's fine I don't think either of the girls should see this." Each of the turtles grabbed a hold of the body and started heading back to the lair. Mikey went ahead to check and see where Li and Piper were, and was glad to find that they were in the dojo with Master Splinter training. He motioned to his brothers and they hauled the body into Donny's lab and shut the door. Donny sighed.

"You guys might want to leave, this might take awhile."

An hour later saw Mikey playing video games, Raph hitting his punching bag, and Leo applying ice to his knees. He had over-extended himself today. The door to the dojo opened and the girls came out panting, followed by Splinter.

"My sons, where is Donatello?"

"Examining the body master." Leo replied tiredly. Piper looked up.

"I could help, I'm studying genetics, maybe I could help him isolate the mutagen." Leo shook his head.

"Piper, it's not a pretty sight." She shrugged.

"Cadavers don't bother me. And I've always been really good at dissections." Everyone sans Li gave her an odd look and she turned and walked over to Donny's lab. "I'll be fine."

Li went and collapsed on the couch next to Mikey, everyone stared at her, wanting an explanation. She shrugged.

"It's true. When we scheduled our Biology labs together, I always made her do all the dissecting. It never bothered her."

"But it's a _person._" Li nodded.

"Yeah, I don't know how she does it." She sighed and stretched out on the couch, and Raph couldn't help but notice out of the corner of his eye how good April's clothes looked on her. He especially liked the bare midriff.

"A belly button ring?" Li looked down and fiddled with the red jeweled ring.

"Yeah, I got it back in high school. One of my friend's moms was a tattoo artist so she did it for free."

"Any other surprises you got hidden?" She smirked at him.

"Wouldn't you like to know." He leaned in close to her, smelling her hair, she smelled like cinnamon and something else he couldn't identify. Shell, she smelled good.

"That's why I asked." Li knew what he was doing and this time she was prepared. If he wanted to mess with her, she was going to mess with him. She started walking her fingers down his plastron.

"Maybe…" Her fingers kept moving south. "You'll just have…" They were at his belt now, and her breath was hot on his ear. "To find out…" She had reached his legs and he could feel her chest pressing against his shoulder. "For yourself." She quickly grabbed the remote that was between his legs and switched the channel to _Jeopardy, _completely ignoring to flustered turtle sitting next to her. Mikey kept his eyes on the screen. Boy, Raph didn't know what he was getting into on this one.

The last time Piper was in the lab she didn't really get a good look at it, but this time around she took her time examining everything. He had a computer set up that would give any techno-geek an orgasm. It took up an entire corner of the room and had multiple monitors decorating it. He had a chemistry lab set up in one corner and there in the center of the room stood Donny hovering over the remains of some sort of snake-human hybrid.

She could tell that was the effect that Bishop was going for, but something had gone wrong. With the turtles their mutation had gone smoothly, making them more human-noid. Whatever Bishop had tried had gone horribly wrong. The legs were conjoined and the feet had merged and tried to form a tail, but had failed. The individual legs could still be seen, but the skin, now a sickening green, had grown over them. The arms were stunted; one of them was nothing but fingers coming out of the shoulder socket. The other arm's wrist was twisted at an odd angle facing the wrong direction. Piper couldn't tell if it was broken or if it had grown that way. And the head, the head was the thing that made her stop and pause. There were wisps of thin hair covering the head, two small slits for the nose, there were no ears, but the eyes held a look of absolute horror. She had to divert her gaze.

"Piper what are you doing here?" Piper walked over to where a spare lab coat was hanging on the wall. Donny was wearing one, causing Piper to giggle in her head, they all looked so out of place wearing clothing.

"My major's biology, genetics in specific, I thought you might need a hand."

"Leo would be upset if he knew you were here."

"Why?"

"He didn't want either of you to see this." He gestured to the body. Piper just gave it a cool glance.

"Bishop's some sort of twisted sicko, that poor thing. I hope he had a quick death." She took the scalpel from Donnie's hand. "Don't worry about Da Vinci, he's going to have to realize that Li and I aren't as sensitive as he thinks." She made the first incision and said a quick prayer for the poor soul that had become Bishop's experiment.

Two Hours Later…

Donnie stood up and stretched, he had been hunched over a microscope for the past twenty minutes examining samples he had taken from the body. He looked over to Piper who was examining its circulatory system. He stood behind her, his voice startling her out of her thoughts.

"The nervous system was shot. The synapses weren't firing correctly."

"Not just the nervous system, whatever Bishop used messed up his circulatory system pretty bad too. It's like when the DNA was mixed the heart didn't know either to have three or four chambers. It couldn't have been alive too long before its body just quit."

"I put the age somewhere around twenty-seven." Piper had a feeling that whoever this was had been young, but to hear Donnie say it made it all the more real. She had a brother the same age. What gave Bishop the right to think he could do this to living things?

"I'm going to try and isolate the mutagen that did this. Whatever it is that Bishop used wasn't the same mutagen that mutated us, it's similar but much simpler. We should be thankful he can't imitate Utrom science." Neither of them said it, but they were thinking the same thing. _'He's going to come after one of the turtles again' _

"I'm going to get a cup of coffee. Do you want anything?" She needed to get out of the lab for a few minutes.

"Yeah, coffee sounds good." It wasn't until she left the lab that she realized how bad the smell had been. The sewer smelled pleasant in comparison. She headed to the kitchen and started brewing a pot of coffee, when she heard sounds coming from the dojo. It was late, everyone should have been in bed by now. What she found in the dojo didn't surprise her a bit.

"You know I think I figured out what it is you're addicted to." Leo looked up from his katas and saw Piper leaning against the door frame. Her hair was messy, her mascara was flaking off and her lab coat slightly bloody, but the sight of her made him happy for some reason he hadn't figured out yet.

"What's that?"

"Training."

"Is that a bad thing?"

"Da Vinci, addictions are always a bad thing, they take over your life. You need to find something else to do." As he looked at her he realized what he would like to do, and the thought startled him a bit, so that's why he was happy when she was around. He was attracted to her. He cleared his throat and tried to banish the thought from his mind.

"What should I do about it?" His voice came out lower than he intended.

"You need to admit you have a problem and get help." She was giving him a serious look, but she was trying to fight back a smile. He stepped up next to her.

"You're right. My name is Leonardo and I'm addicted to ninjutsu." She erupted in laughter. Leo smiled, he knew he had a sense of humor, but the problem was that he was actually serious.

"Oh god Leo you do have a sense of humor." She was barely about to get the words out between her giggles. Leo was still trying to figure out what had made that funny. Rodney Dangerfield hadn't done anything like that in his movies.

"It wasn't that funny."

"I know that's what makes it so funny." She burst into laughter again. He just watched her as she tried to calm herself down, joining in the laughter. Piper wiped the tears that had formed around her eyes away. "Oh man Leo I needed that." She smiled at him and kissed him on the check. "Thanks." She turned and left to get her coffee, still quietly laughing to herself. He touched his cheek, deciding that maybe what he wanted wasn't so impossible after all.


	10. At the Club

A/N: Thanks egyptianluver for reviewing. Here's the next chaper, and we're still looking for an answer "What does Casey do for a living?" Enjoy!

At the Club

A group of loudly dressed miscreants entered a seedy looking bar on the end of a street full of bullet-ridden buildings. Besides their outrageous clothing, the only comparable feature between them was the tattoo of a purple dragon winding up their arms.

"Alright, we want one a bit younger this time, remember, look for the homeless ones and the drunks." The group walked in and took a booth next to the pool table. They immediately began scouting the place. There were a few older patrons sitting at the bar, a prostitute, and some younger people milling around the other pool table. A boy sat in the corner rubbing his arms in a threadbare coat. One of the men stood up.

"That one."

"Hey, wake up." Li shook Piper awake from her place on the couch. She opened her eyes to see Li freshly showered and wearing another one of April's belly-baring outfits.

"What time is it?"

"Nine, Leo wants you in the dojo for training. Mine's afterward cause Raph isn't ready yet." Piper sighed and stretched. She contemplated training in her pajamas. It was just a tank top and shorts. She shrugged, why not.

"Give me a pony tail holder and a cup of coffee and I'll be good to go." Li gave her the black band in her hair, causing it to fall against her back.

"Here, you can finish my cup, I'll get another one." Piper waved and drank it in one gulp on her way over to the dojo. She rubbed her eyes and slid open the door.

"Sit." She went and sat in lotus position in front of Leo. She had found within the last few days that he was a strict teacher, but she didn't mind. It meant she was getting the real deal.

"Relax your mind." She relaxed her mind, but didn't close her eyes. If she did she would just fall back to sleep.

"Now, let us begin." She stood up with him and he instructed her through the simple kata he taught her the first day. She hadn't really moved much past that, he was such a perfectionist. He corrected her footing and then moved his large hand to her hip to move her to the left. She swallowed. He was moving slowly due to him still being injured, but every time he touched her, her veins turned to liquid fire. Damn, who knew ninjutsu could be so arousing?

"Like this?" She cursed her voice for coming off lower than she intended it too. She didn't want him to know just how much he was affecting her. He didn't move his hand still on her hip. She looked up to his face to see him staring into space with an odd look on his face.

"Leo?" She whispered. He shook his head and cleared his throat.

"No, like this." He guided her through the move, body pressed against hers from behind, his hands moving her into the correct stances, until she ended the kata with both knees bent and her arms up in a defense position. Leo was fighting himself. He wanted to make sure she understood the move, but on the other hand, what he _really _wanted right now had nothing to do with ninjutsu, and everything to do with the scent she was giving off. He kept a hold of his self control by not breathing in too deeply and stepping away from her.

"Not bad, are you ready to try something new?" His voice coming out slightly husky. She tried to control her breathing.

"Depends. Is it going to be anything like that?" He swallowed.

"Only if you want it to be." He whispered. He stepped closer to her and she looked up at him dizzily. His hand settled hesitantly on the small of her back, while the other hovered near her cheek.

"Piper." He breathed, tilting his head. Her legs almost gave out and her entire body was on fire from the want radiating from him. She matched it perfectly. She leaned forward and pressed their bodies together, rising up onto the balls of her feet. His hand settle on her cheek and their breath mixed from their proximity. His eyes swallowed her up, their intensity sending her to lean closer to him. She clutched his shoulders as he leaned down to press his lips to hers. At that moment, the door slid open with a bang. Leo jumped away from her as if he were burned.

"Come on dude and dudette, you guys can finish training after breakfast!" Piper was trying to fight back the blush that was covering her entire face. What was she thinking? They weren't even the same species for goodness sake! But he made her feel like she was on fire. Mikey grabbed her hand and dragged her out of the dojo.

"I made omelets for breakfast. What do you want in yours?" He paused and looked at her. "Are you feeling alright? You're really red."

"Uh…yeah I'm fine…just an intense training session is all."

Leo punched the dojo wall after Mikey took his Piper away. Wait, his Piper? When did he start thinking like that? The day she kissed him, that's when. It was only a few days ago, but when he closed his eyes he could still feel her lips. Damn. This wasn't supposed to happen. He wasn't supposed to fall for someone. He didn't think this could even happen, the only female he ever spent time with was April and he never thought about her like this. But with Piper it was all he could do to keep his hands to himself. Maybe he should postpone training for the rest of the day.

Piper waited anxiously for the hour that Raph worked with Li, jealously looking on as he taught her more advanced katas, as well as a nasty round house kick. She did well enough that he dismissed her for the day to collapse in front of the TV with Mikey. He was still tired from the training Splinter put them through at dawn. He had to fight for Leo when he couldn't train, and the strain just made him want to nap. Especially with Leo being forced to watch by Splinter to correct them. Damn Leo and his perfectionist tendencies. He could barely ogle Li while she was doing those high kicks. He sighed and rested his head back against the cushions. Meanwhile, Piper had grabbed Li as soon as she exited the dojo and drug her to their room.

"I have _got _to talk to you." Li crossed her arms.

"Is this about why you were acting so weird during breakfast?" Piper nodded and sat down on Mikey's bottom bunk aka Li's bed.

"Yeah. So during training, Leo and I got, uh, kinda close."

"Like what kind of close?"

"Like we almost made-out close." Li's jaw dropped and she lowered her voice.

"What? Is that even possible? Oh my god! What did he do?" Piper sighed.

"It's what he didn't do. Mikey interrupted us." Li sat down next to her on the bed.

"But, he doesn't have lips. I mean, not really. And, I didn't even know he liked human girls!" Piper shrugged.

"Well, we were gonna do something, and since there are no other turtle-human mutants, I guess the closest thing is human females." Li got an odd expression on her face.

"What?" She fiddled uncomfortably.

"Well, it's just….all those cracks you made about me and Mikey and me and Raph, I thought you were just joking, but you really weren't, oh my god! I totally shouldn't have done that!"

"Done what?" She blushed.

"Oh, Raph was trying to embarrass me again so I turned the tables. Except I did it kind of provocatively." Piper sighed.

"You are completely unaware of how sexual you come off. And I bet you didn't notice that he wasn't trying to embarrass you, he was totally trying to get in your pants." Li eeped.

"What do I do?"

"What are you talking about? Raph is exactly the type of guy you go for, he's just not human."

"But…why didn't you tell me!?" Piper shrugged.

"I thought you could tell. Jeez Li, boys are boys not matter what species." Li collapsed to the floor with a cry of despair. "That's what you get for being a tease."

"How do I fix this?" Piper just looked at her.

"If Raph was human would you like him?"

"…Yes."

"Even though he's not human, do you like him?"

"…"

"Li." She gave her friend a stern look.

"…I don't know...yes." Piper beamed at her.

"Go make your move!"

"Wait! We were talking about you! How did the conversation slip to me and Raph? What are you going to do about Leo?" Piper shrugged.

"That's why I started this conversation. I don't know…no wait I do know!" Li raised an eyebrow at her friend. Piper's face fell. "…No, I don't know."

"He's a good guy. I doubt you'll get screwed over this time Pipe." Piper bit her lip, she didn't like where this was going.

"I have to go do science things with Donny now." Piper ran out of the room. Li watched her friend leave. Piper would deal with this on her own, right now she had to worry about the red masked turtle she'd been putting the moves on.

Several hours later saw Li playing a racing game and Piper busy with a microscope that she had brought out of Donny's lab to study. Now that she was aware of it, the smell really bothered her. Truth be told, both of them were beginning to get claustrophobic. The farthest they were allowed to go was to April's house, and that was just to wash their clothes. Neither of them had ever been confined like this before, even if it was for their own good. Donny came out of the lab to grab some coffee when his cell rang.

"Hello, Donny speaking. Hey Casey, what's up? What? Angel, what's she done now?" Both girls looked questioningly at Mikey, who paused their game. "Uh huh, no wait, we'll go, we're going over there tonight anyway. Yes really, besides, I thought you had a date tonight? Yeah, no problem." He hung up and addressed Mikey.

"Apparently Angel has been picking fights with the purple dragons again. She thinks they took one of her friends. She was going to some club tonight because she heard a group of them would be there. I told him we'd check it out." Mikey nodded.

"Who's Angel?"

"Angel's a girl we met back when we were teenagers. She lives next to Casey. She got involved with the purple dragons back then and we helped her and Casey out. She knows our secret." Donny added, knowing the girls would be curious.

"So this Angel is going to a bar to fight purple dragons, the one in that gang Mikey told us about?"

"Yep, except it's a club, not a bar. They have a night for teenagers; she's not old enough to get into a bar yet." Just then Raph walked into the room, Leo behind him.

"Hey guys, Angel is in a bit of trouble, we have to go to a club to bail her out."

"Angel huh? Ain't seen her in a while." Piper and Li looked at each other; they both had the same idea.

"You know four guys going to club is going to look kind of weird."

"It will?"

"Oh yeah, really weird, you'll bring a lot of attention to yourselves."

"But it wouldn't look so weird if you brought some girls with you."

"Then you'd just be pimping."

"We'll go get ready for the club now." The girls raced off to Mikey's room, trying to find clubbing clothes. They were getting out of here for the night, whether the turtles liked it or not.

"What just happened?"

"I think we're taking them to the club." Leo shook his head.

"No, they're still wanted fugitives and the club will be filled with purple dragons. It's too dangerous."

"Why don't you go tell them that?" Leo stood up a little straighter.

"Maybe I will." Mikey watched his brother leave.

"A pizza says he wouldn't be able to get them to change their minds."

"A pizza and a week of chores says he'll end up going as Piper's date."

"You're on." Leo marched to the girls' room, there was no way he was going to put Piper in danger by allowing her to come with them. He opened Mikey's door and was greeted by the sight of Piper in a mini skirt putting on lip gloss.

"Da Vinci! What's up?" She bounded over to him a smile on her face. "What time are we leaving? Do you know how cold it is outside? April didn't bring us any jackets." He blinked. Damn, who knew he'd be a leg guy?

"Uhhh, you guys can't come." Piper sighed.

"Look, you four walk into a club together and they'll know you aren't there for the dancing okay? But if you bring us with you, you'll look normal enough to slip past their sensors. And besides, if anything goes down, Li and I will slip into the crowd and high tail it to the restroom or the bar and stay out of the action till you come and get us, alright?" He still looked unsure. "And trust me, if this club is any kind of seedy, no one's going to be looking to turn us in, especially with a ton of gang members there too. We'll blend. Now calm down, and get out. Li has to change." Li nodded and pointed to the door. He sighed and closed the door behind him. That didn't really go as planned.

"Damn, April's clothes really do work as clubbing clothes. It's too bad we don't have any heels." They both looked at their sneakers. "Guess we'll go punk." Piper put on a white t-shirt with her mini skirt and her heart necklace she still had throughout their entire ordeal. "I hope it's not cold." Li straightened from putting on a tiny denim mini she managed to squeeze into, it was obviously something from April's high school or college days from the look of it. She slipped on a tight black tank top and looked at herself sadly.

"I look like a slut. Let's change skirts, yours is longer and this one won't look as short on you." Piper shook her head.

"No way, I'm not wearing that. Besides, you can be the distraction." Li pouted.

"But I'm always the distraction! Why can't you wear the short skirts?"

"Because you have longer legs, come on, let's go before they leave us." Piper skipped out of the room, leaving a grumbling Li behind her.

"I don't wanna be the distraction."

Mikey was a little worried he might lose to Raph. Leo didn't say Piper was going with him, but she just might anyway. There was no way he was going to do Raph's chores for a week. Likely fate or Piper was on his side. She bounded in toward him and put her arm through his.

"Mikey will you be my date?" He couldn't keep his grin back.

"Of course dudette."

"No fair! I was going to ask Mikey to be my date." Piper stuck her tongue out at Li.

"Too late. I'm going with Mikey." Li grabbed Mikey's other arm.

"Well so am I."

"Ladies, you can both go with me." His brothers stared.

"Wait, isn't that still going to look weird?" They paused.

"Piper, go with Donny!"

"Okay!" She went and grabbed Donny's arm.

"Well? Onward!" Leo and Raph stared.

"Hey, what about me?" Li glanced at Raph.

"Well, if you're lucky, I might save you a dance." They went and piled into the Turtle Taxi, which barely contained them.

"I want to sit in the front!" Piper slid in next to Donny, who was in the driver's seat. Leo slid in next to her, and had to squeeze in against her to fit and close the door. She was on the other side of the shifting gear, and wanted to keep out of Donny's way, so she stayed that way, praying Leo couldn't hear her heart pound. Meanwhile, Li had ended up wedged between Raph and Mikey in the back. She leaned against Mikey self-consciously, aware that Raph was eying her out of the corner of his eye. He couldn't help but admire her outfit, that and he was sitting so close to her he couldn't breathe in without getting a whiff of her intoxicating scent. Maybe taking them wasn't such a good idea.

At the Club…

"Huh, I didn't know there was going to be an entrance fee." Piper was surveying the small line outside of the club and the large bouncer guarding the door. She whistled. "He's a biggin'."

"Well I never had to pay an entrance fee in my life and I'm not starting now." Li sashayed to the bouncer and started flirting, he let her pass and she threw the turtles a wink.

"Well darn now I have to get all of you guys in myself. Come on you can pretend to be my bitches." Leo mouthed wordlessly. This is why he didn't go to clubs. With some persuasion and a little help from Li and a fake phone number, they were in. Li hung off Mikey's orange-coat clad arm, looking for all the world like a brainless girl with a pretty face and a tight skirt. Mikey wore a blue beanie and blue jeans, with a white hoodie under his orange coat. Donny was in a white trench coat and white shirt and light gray jeans with his hood pulled up. Leo was in a black trench coat with blue jeans and a red shirt, a black beanie on his head. Raph was wearing a white beanie and a purple hoodie with the hood pulled up under a black jacket and white pants. All of them wore black sunglasses.

"Alright, what does this chick look like?" Mikey directed her through the crowd.

"She's short, kind of looks Hispanic, and has black hair with purple streaks." The turtles and Piper followed their lead, both girls earning plenty of double takes from the club's male guests. Piper grabbed Li's arm and gave her a look. She nodded.

"Hey, we're gonna grab something to drink, call us if you find that chick of yours."

"Wait, you shouldn't leave the group." Piper and Li were already heading towards the bar.

"What was that? I'm sorry, I can't hear you Da Vinci." Leo let out a frustrated groan as Piper ignored him and ordered a rum and coke. He was starting to wonder why he fell for the difficult one. Mikey started heading over to the bar as well.

"Michelangelo."

"What, Angel's not here. Why shouldn't I get a drink and enjoy a night out?"

"He's got a point Leo." Raph followed the example set by his brother. "Yo, one beer." Leo turned around trying to gain Donny's backing, only to see him sipping a mai tai.

"What? It's good." He sighed and joined the girls at the bar. Looked like they were going to have to wait.

"Uhh, do you have water?" Piper and the bartender gave him a look.

"You can't have water! Here, have this, I'll order another." She handed him her rum and coke and he sighed. At that moment, _Dragula_ started playing and both girls threw their drinks at the nearest turtle.

"I love this song!" They hit the dance floor and began moving to the beat, the colored lights illuminating them on the dance floor. The turtles looked on, watching the girls dance to the Rob Zombie song. Mikey looked at his brothers.

"You can't tell me you don't want to keep them." Raphael looked on as Li head banged, her hair flying in every direction and her hips moving to the beat. Her skirt was starting to rid up, revealing even more leg. His mouth started watering and he took a sip of his beer. Shell yeah he wanted to keep her. Piper danced alongside her and frankly, Leo was having trouble looking away from her, until he noticed the men around them noticing them. Some of them were getting rather close. Li and Piper, who were used to this, didn't really care, they just danced closer together. Until one of them came up behind Li and grabbed her ass.

"Hold this." Raph shoved his beer into Mikey's chest and stormed over to where Li was dancing and punched the guy in the face.

"Keep your mitts off my gurl." Li spun around and stared at Raph as the man fell to the ground and scrambled away. She cocked an eyebrow at him and put her hands on her hips.

"Your girl?" Raph coughed trying to regain his composure.

"Ah well, if dey tink you're with me den dey won't hit on you."

"Well aren't you sweet."

"Well, ya don't want creeps like dem grabbing your ass do you?"

"Do you know how often I've had my ass grabbed at concerts and clubs?"

"Not while I'm around. Now c'mon, ma beer's getting warm." He grabbed her hand and led her away from the dance floor, glaring at every male in the vicinity. They walked back over to the bar to see Mikey and Don synchronize dancing. Li stared.

"Uhhh, do they always do that?" Raph sighed.

"Ignore dem. Dey can't hold dere liquor." They leaned against the wall, Raph slipping his arm around her shoulders. Her cheeks grew warm at his proximity, but she didn't move. Meanwhile Piper had started synchronized dancing with Mikey and Donny.

"How did you guys learn to do this?"

"We did it all the time as teenagers."

"Even Da Vinci?"

"Yup." Piper paused in her dancing. She had to see this, skipping over to Leo, she grabbed his arm.

"C'mon, you're being boring. Get away from the bar and start dancing."

"Someone has to keep an eye out for the purple dragons and Angel."

"If someone starts a fight you'll notice. Now move it Da Vinci, it's time to shake your money maker." She grabbed his ass to make her point, causing him to jump. She started laughing. "Oh boy Leo I was wrong about you. You're a hoot." She hauled him to the dance floor and lined him up with his brothers, giving him an expectant look.

"What?"

"Synchronize dance with your brothers. They told me you could." Leo gaped at her. He thought she wanted to dance _with_ him.

"That's why I'm out here?"

"Yes." She nodded. "Why what did you think you were out here for?"

"I thought you wanted to dance with me."

"Oh don't worry Leo I'll dance with you." She smiled and lined up with Donny and Mikey again and started dancing with them. "Well aren't you going to dance?" Leo took a swig of his rum and coke and started dancing with his brothers.

Li looked down sadly at the drink she had finished. Raph's arm was around her shoulders and she was too comfortable to move back to the dance floor. She looked at Raph, giving him her best puppy dog eyes.

"Buy me another drink."

"No."

"Why not?"

"You'll get drunk and when the fight starts I won't be able to protect you from getting your ass grabbed." She crossed her arms and glared at him.

"I don't need you to protect me."

"Well tough, I'm going to anyway." Li let a small smile grace her lips. That was sweet, but now how was she going to get a drink? Then she looked over to see Donny, Mikey, Leo, and Piper synchronize dancing. She looked away.

"We don't know them." Raph snorted. It was then the sound of a girl's voice echoed over to them from the back of the bar. They peered over to see a group of purple dragons being yelled at by a short black haired girl and a group of her friends.

"That's our cue. Hey bozos!" His brothers looked over at Raph and he gestured to where Angel was. Leo nodded.

"Right, you two stay here." The turtles all went to the back of the bar, and Li took this opportunity to quickly buy another drink. She and Piper peered over people's heads as the crowd began to thin around the commotion. They watched as Leo grabbed Angel's shoulder, startling her. Then, she began to yell at him too.

"She doesn't seem like a very happy camper." Li shrugged.

"Come on, let's get closer." They acted like they were heading to the restroom, which was close to the action, and watched from that alcove as Raph stepped up and shoved the leader in the chest. Li sighed.

"Great, we're going to get kicked out, I just know it." Leo had taken Angel aside and was speaking to her urgently, but she continued arguing with him. Just then, Raph threw a punch.

"Okay, let's go grab the chick, maybe we can distract her for them." Li strode forward, ducking a man Mikey sent flying, and grabbed Angel's arm, yanking the smaller girl over to where Piper was standing.

"What the heck do you think you're doing?" Leo had glanced at her, before joining his brothers, reassured both girls were out of the way.

"Casey told us you wanted to come here, so the guys came instead. Just let them do their thing." Angel yanked her arm back and looked up at Li suspiciously.

"You know them?" She nodded.

"Yep. We currently live with them." She gestured to Piper, who Angel noticed for the first time. They were almost the same height. Piper waved.

"Hello."

"Uh…hi?"

"So I hear you're here to fight dragons. What's that all about?"

"Those dragons took my friend!" Li's eyebrows rose.

"Oh?"

"We were here the other night, and he left with him and I haven't seen him since. I **know** the purple dragons did something to him."

"So picking a fight is going to fix this?"

"Uh Li, don't look now, but that's exactly what our boys are doing." All three of the girls turned around and started watching the fight that had broken out between the turtles and the purple dragons, and the turtles were kicking butt.

"Man, they really are good. Li, we should stay conscious for all their fights."

"I hope they remember to leave one of them standing, so we can get some answers. Mikey don't knock them all out!"

"Gotcha babe!" The dragons took off, except for the one Mikey had by the shirt collar. Raph leaned down to his level.

"Alright, talk, why did you take her friend?" He gestured over to Angel, who, along with Piper and Li, came over.

"Like I'm going to tell you freaks anything!" Raph growled threateningly and put his sai under the man's chin. He gulped. Don leaned over his shoulder and grabbed a piece of paper hanging out of the guy's pocket.

"Huh? Serial numbers?" Raph pushed his sai into the man's neck.

"They're just for identification! We get paid on how many we bring in!" Staring into Raphael's angry face and seeing what he could do was obviously freaking the guy out. "I don't know what they do with them, honest!"

"With who?" Leo asked suspiciously.

"The people! Just that the priest guy wants them!" Donny's head snapped up. Li mouthed priest silently.

"Do you mean, Bishop?" The man nodded fearfully.

"Yeah, that's the guy." Raph threw the man down with a snarl. He jumped up and ran. Donny and Piper looked at each other.

"He's kidnapping people to use in his experiments." Leo's head swiveled around, anger dancing in his eyes.

"What?" Piper tried to avoid his eyes while Donny explained.

"He's kidnapping people. That…thing, it was originally a person, Leo. He's kidnapping people to make super soldiers."

"Why didn't you tell us sooner?"

"We thought it was a volunteer. Neither of us imagined for a moment…"

"That he would do something like this." Leo took a deep breath trying to regain control. He looked at Angel, who had tears streaming down her face.

"Angel, I'm sorry. We'll save your friend I promise." She shook her head.

"No you won't. He must be gone by now. Just…just promise me one thing."

"Anything."

"That'll you'll kick his ass for me." Leo smiled grimly and nodded his head.

"Bet on it."

No one said anything on the way home. Everyone's good mood had vanished with the realization of what Bishop had been doing. They silently entered the lair. The girls heading to Mikey's room to rest as the turtles convened in the kitchen.

"Don, what else have you learned about Bishop's experiments?"

"He uses younger…samples. It works better with the mutagen." Raph impaled his sai in the kitchen table.

"You mean like kids?!"

"No, if he used children the mutagen would completely destroy their immune systems. It would work best with someone still growing, but with a more stable body…it would work best with someone around our age."

"You mean the girls' age."

"…Yeah, the girl's are the perfect age for Bishop's experiments."

"Well let's hope he hasn't learned that yet."


	11. Not in Blood, but in Bond

A/N: Thank you Made up dreams, estar, egpytianluver, Wonderwomanbatmanfan, andMyMusesSpeakToMe for reviewing the last chapter. You guys are awesome, synchronized turtle dances for all of you!

Not In Blood, But In Bond

"Block! No, you're not moving fast enough! Try it again." Piper leaned over, her hands on her knees, trying to catch her breath. Ever since the night at the club Leo had stepped up her training, pushing her harder and harder each day. She was starting to miss being stuck on the same basic kata.

"Leo, I started doing this two weeks ago! I'm not as good as you seem to think I should be."

"That's the problem, now try it again." Piper stood up and got into a defensive position as Leo attacked her again. She was able to block him this time, but was too slow to counter attack.

"You're not aggressive enough! You have to attack your enemy, not just block him. Try it again." She was getting fed up with this; they'd been going at it for two hours already.

"Leo stop, give me a break."

"Your enemy won't give you a break."

"You're not my enemy, you're my friend, and I need you to back off. Why have you been pushing me so hard lately?" No one had told Piper or Li what Donny had discovered, everyone agreed it would be for the best if they didn't know. But Leo wanted to make sure Piper could take care of herself. He might not be there to protect her, and she was already on Bishop's hit list, he needed to know she would be safe.

"You need to learn how to fight."

"We've been going at this since I woke up."

"We can stop once you learn to attack." Piper bit her lip in anger, and stomped on Leo's foot, then punched him. It didn't hurt him, but it felt good to take her anger out on him.

"There, I attacked! Now I'm going to go have breakfast." Leo watched her leave the dojo, muttering insults about him under her breath. She didn't understand he needed her to be safe. Bishop could find her and use her as one of his experiments. He couldn't lose her! But all he had succeeded in doing the past two weeks was making her mad at him. He needed to apologize and try to make her understand, but he still didn't want her to know how much danger helping his family had put her in. If she knew she might regret helping Mikey, and if she regretted helping Mikey, then that would mean she regretted meeting him, and he wasn't sure he could take that.

Piper entered the kitchen in a huff, to see Donny, Mikey, Splinter, and Li around the table. They hadn't seen Splinter too much lately, he had spent much of his time meditating, except for their nightly show. They had introduced him to Sex and the City, and it was the only time of day they usually saw him. Of course, it was one of the best, as they took an hour to explain the lives of Carrie, Samantha, Charlotte, and Miranda. Finally, Li could put the knowledge she gained from her box set to use. Mikey generally watched with them. Piper paused, then looked over at Mikey. Suddenly she launched herself over the table at him.

"Mikey!" Mikey caught her, confused.

"Uh, yeah?" She hugged him.

"I miss you!" He patted her on the head. "You were with us when everything started, then other stuff happened, then we haven't done as much, and I miss you!"

"Sorry dudette, I've been busy with patrol. I know we can hang out for the rest of the day!"

"Good, we can have a friendship day and bake cupcakes, and paint our toes, and watch movies."

"And read comic books, and play video games, and tell ghost stories."

"And make s'mores." Piper and Mikey were holding hands jumping around excitedly.

"I'll get the nail polish."

"And I'll get the movies."

"Meet you in the living room." Both ran off in opposite directions. Li got up after finishing her tea and bowed good-bye to Splinter.

"I'm going to join them. Thank you for the tea." As Li was exiting the kitchen she ran into Raph. "Oh, sorry."

"Not a problem toots." She blushed and went to sit next to Mikey in the living room.

"Raph?" She blinked.

"How'd you know?"

"Cause you only get that look on your face when he's around." She blushed and fidgeted uncomfortably.

"Nuh uh." Mikey laughed and patted her on the back.

"Don't be shy, you guys are like Batman and Catwoman!" Li gave him a disbelieving look.

"Except that I'm not a thief and he's not a bat, not to mention we've never even had a real conversation." Mikey waved a hand dismissively.

"What I mean is that you're cut from the same mold."

"So you're saying I have attitude and anger problems."

"Gah! No!" Li giggled.

"I'm just messing with you." She looked thoughtful. "But I know what you mean." She looked unsure and bit her lip. Mikey leaned toward her and put his hand on his shoulder.

"Hey, you know when I first met you I thought you were really something. You were confident and kind and accepting, I thought there might have been something. But you know what? There is something between us; between you and me and Piper, we're family. You and Piper are my sisters and if you end up actually becoming my sister by being with my brother then all the better." Li's eyes teared up.

"Mikey, you're right! I'm so glad we met that night; you're the best brother ever! Way better than my other brother! And you give great advice, I love you!" She hugged him.

"Awww, thanks babe." They pulled away and Li stood up, wiping her eyes. Just then, Raph walked in from the kitchen.

"Hey!" He pulled Mikey away from Li. "Did you make her cry? You better hope you didn't just make her cry."

"Lay off Raph, I didn't make Li cry."

"He just said something sweet is all." Raphael dropped his brother, and looked at Li, whose tears had dried.

"Den why were you crying?"

"Because it was sweet."

"You were crying…?"

"People don't just cry cause they're sad."

"Yeah Raph, some people cry cause their happy." He looked confused.

"So…you were happy?" She nodded and wrapped her arms around his neck.

"Yes!" He hugged her back, still confused, until she skipped out of the room.

"Piper, did you find the nail polish? Oooh, I'll make popcorn!" Raph shook his head.

"I'll never understand women."

"No one ever will Raph, no one ever will."

Across Town…..

"Enter." A man with a purple dragon tattoo entered a heavily guarded room with a single occupant. "Well?"

"They know." Bishop smirked.

"Perfect." Dragon-face exited the room, leaving Bishop alone. A figure emerged from the shadows.

"Well?"

"They'll start looking for me now. Once I allow them to find me I will take the turtle back and use his DNA and create my army."

"Don't forget your promise." Bishop adjusted his glasses.

"Of course not, I said I'd cure you didn't I?"

Piper and Li spent the day with Mikey watching movies and enjoying a peaceful day together. They had painted each other's nails and watched chick flicks. Splinter had joined them when they started watching the Sex and the City movie. After the girls had their fair share of movies it was Mikey's turn to pick out the movie. He ended up picking a horror movie and at a scary part they looked over to see him with his head in his shell, causing them to scream bloody murder. Donny had to explain that as a turtle, Mikey could put his head in his shell, and no, he did not actually have his head cut off. When it happened a second time Splinter decided they had watched enough scary movies. They were currently channel surfing.

"You're changing the channels too fast. I can't see what's on." Li sighed and flipped through the channels slower so that Splinter had time to observe what was on. "You may change this one now." Good she was sick of listening to the direct tv information guide channel. She stopped on CNN, waiting for Splinter to let her change the channel again, when a news bulletin caught her attention.

"…The two women wanted by the police for aiding a wanted fugitive have been caught and now face trial…" The girls looked at each other.

"Is he talking about us?"

"The women have been on the run for approximately three weeks. The search for them began in the Midwest…"

"He _is_ talking about us."

"Well I'm almost positive I haven't been arrested for anything…yet."

"It appears Agent Bishop is trying to lure the two of you into the open."

"He probably thinks he can use us to track the guys." Li crossed her arms.

"Idiot, does he think we're stupid? I ain't going nowhere." She sat stubbornly. Mikey nodded.

"Don't worry, once we find Bishop and kick his shell, you guys will be in the clear." Both girls got very quiet. They forgot about that. They had lives and families outside of the lair, they had grown so comfortable so fast they had forgot that one day they would have to leave.

"Eh, don't think you'll get rid of us so easy Mikey, I know you just want your room back." Mikey sighed dramatically.

"Awww, it's okay Li, there's plenty of room for us. Well, maybe if Piper moved out."

"Hey!"

"You're right, I think you should move back out here so Mikey and I can have our room back."

"Since when was it yours and Mikey's room?"

"Since now."

"Fine I'll go and live with Donny in the lab."

"Not his room?"

"Donny has a room?! I thought he just lived in the lab…are you sure he has a room? I don't think he does." She and Li jumped off the couch.

"Hey, where are you going?"

"On an adventure to find Donny's room." Mikey pointed.

"It's right there." Li sighed.

"Well, that was a short adventure. Wanna go snoop?" Piper nodded.

"Let's." They walked into Don's room to see…..mounds of garbage, books, science things, pizza boxes, and everything in between. Piper whistled.

"Damn, this is even worse than my room." Piper picked up a book on physics and flipped through it while Li walked over to his night stand and picked something up off the floor with a look of disbelief.

"Is this my bra? I've been looking for this!" She only had two bras, and had been distressed when several days ago, one of them disappeared. She looked at Piper. "Donny had my bra. That pervert!"

"It's always the quiet ones."

"Oh he better have one heck of an explanation for this." Li marched out of Donny's room and into the dojo where he was training with Leo and Raph. "Donny! What is this!?" She violently shook her bra at him. "What is this!?"

"Uh, a bra?"

"That's right it's a bra. It's my bra! That I found in _your_ room!"

"What!?"

"That's right Raph! Your brother's a pervert who steals bras."

"How did you get her bra?" Raph started backing Donny into a corner.

"Uh…Piper gave it to me!"

"What?!" Everyone stared at Piper.

"What? He was going to drink the last cup of coffee, so I traded him Li's bra for it."

"Piper, why didn't you tell me?" She shrugged.

"Cause you wouldn't let me if you knew!" Li narrowed her eyes at her.

"This is just like when Caitlin tried to sell me for money! Why do my friends always do this to me?"

"I wasn't going to sell any of my things. That would be prostitution."

"What's it now?"

"Capitalism."

"You're a bad friend."

"I don't understand." Leo stepped up to bat.

"Piper it's not honorable to sell your friend."

"I didn't sell her I sold her bra."

"That's still not honorable." Piper knew she only had one way out of this.

"You're right Leo." Tears started welling up in her eyes, and she threw her arms around his neck. "I'm so sorry I know it wasn't honorable, but I didn't know what else to do. Donny was holding all the cards and…and he made me do it!" She buried her face in his neck. Leo wrapped his arms around her.

"It's okay Piper. Donny shouldn't have done that to you." Leo glared at Donny.

"Donny, stop taking advantage of our female guests." Donny gaped. Noticing everyone staring at him suspiciously, he ninja-vanished.

"Aw goddamnit." Raphael glared out the door at his brother. He steered Li toward the door.

"Come on, let's blow this joint." She followed him to the garage, where he threw her a helmet. She zipped up a spare jacket and hopped on the back of his bike. He revved the engine and the wall in front of them slid open. She held onto his shell as they took off through the tunnels, coming out in an alleyway.

"Where are we going?"

"Won't know till we get t'ere." Li held on tighter to Raph as he accelerated down the streets of New York.

Leo looked down at Piper, who was still in his arms, and it felt like she belonged there. She fit in his arms perfectly and he didn't want to let go. Piper pulled away from Leo, and instantly regretted the lack of contact. That was weird. It wasn't due to a loss of warmth, he was cold blooded. So why did she want to be in his arms again? She shook her head, trying to clear it. She needed to think. She knew there was chemistry between them, but she didn't think she _like_ liked him.

"I'm going to return Li's bra to our room." She left the dojo, forgetting Li's bra on the floor.

She reached Mikey's room and collapsed on the bed face first, letting out a small scream. What was that about, when did she start wanting to be with Da Vinci? "Crud." She flipped over staring at the ceiling. Okay, great she had the hots for a turtle. But it wasn't the fact that he was a turtle was it? She had stopped viewing them as turtles and started viewing them as people. So what was holding her back from making a move?

"Oh yeah, that's why. I don't trust guys." Not for the first time she cursed her old boyfriend for taking away her ability to trust. But she could trust Leo. Right? She was pretty sure he wouldn't hurt her. And there _was_ something there. He almost kissed her that time in the dojo. She spent the next thirty minutes staring at the ceiling in Mikey's room, before finally making up her mind.

"Nothing ventured, nothing gained." She was going to have to learn to trust guys eventually, why not start with the turtle that gave her butterflies? She swung her legs over the bed and marched determinedly to the dojo. As she expected, she found Leo training by candlelight . He stopped training as she strode over to him.

"Piper?" She stood on her toes, grabbed his face and kissed him. She let go and stared at him expectedly. It was a quick kiss, little more than a peck, but it caught Leo off guard. He just looked at Piper looking at him. "What?"

"Look, I was getting sick of the sexual tension between the two of us, and you weren't making a move. So after I figured out that it was more than sexual tension on my part and that I actually liked you, I decided to make the first move, cause you weren't. I mean, you don't have to do anything, you might not even feel the same way about me, I just wanted to find out for sure—" Before she could utter another syllable , Leo had pinned her against the wall and started kissing her. She held onto his shoulders as she was lifted from the ground, his mouth hot and hungry against her own. She felt weak and strong at the same time, her body so hot she was sure her touch must have burned him. Nobody had ever affected her like this before. He moved to her neck and it was all she could do not to moan, the walls were thin after all. He had moved her so that her back was pressed against the wall, and her legs around his waist, with one of his arms supporting her so she didn't fall, the other working its way up her body.

"Leo." She breathed, and he growled against her neck. It struck her suddenly just how repressed he must have been, how they all must have been, all these years never having experienced a physical relationship. And now Leo had finally cracked, and damn did it feel good. He sucked on her neck, marking her as his, while his right hand made its way up her shirt, caressing her flesh, giving her goose bumps. She tilted her neck giving him better access, tightening her grip on him, when his mouth started moving south towards her chest. Her eyes rolled back in her head and her breath came out in short pants as he nipped the flesh above her bra, pulling her shirt down to get better access. She heard a rip and only felt a small bit of remorse as the remains of her t-shirt drifted to the ground. She ground her hips into his and he gave a low moan and a particularly hard nip to the top of her right breast when suddenly the door slid open and light filled the room. Leo growled and pulled her down to his chest, blocking her from the view of whoever was at the door.

"Yo, Leo you know where everyone went? Li and Piper went to Donny's room and I haven't seen them since." Piper felt her face grow hot. She forgot there was anyone else here, and now she was topless in the dojo trying to hide from sight. Mikey needed to leave quickly so she could try to salvage enough of her shirt to make it back to her room.

"Raph took Li out for a ride on the shell cycle."

"Good, she took my advice! Just you wait Leo there's going to be a new couple by the time Li and Raph get back." Mikey started heading for the door. "Oh Piper you might want to fix your hair before Splinter sees the two of you." Piper gasped. Damn it he knew she was here the entire time. She started trying to flatten her hair and put it back into a manageable state. Leo put his forehead to hers, chuckling.

"Not funny Leo."

"Now who doesn't have a sense of humor?" She smiled up at him.

"Touché…so I take it you've got a thing for me too?"

"More than just a thing." He whispered huskily in her ear, before giving it a small lick. Piper felt her knees buckle. To mask it, she bent down and picked up the remains of her shirt. She gave him a look, and he had the decency to look slightly ashamed.

"Heh, sorry."

"How am I supposed to get back to my room like this?"

"Mine's closer."

On the other side of the city, Raph and Li shot down the streets in a blur, reveling in the cool night air and the wind on their faces. Li felt exhilarated for the first time in days, there was nothing better than hopping on a bike and leaving your troubles behind. She looked up at the clear sky and the bright moon, the stars above twinkling in the black sky. She took a deep breath of fresh air and sighed.

"Can we do this more often?"

"As often as you want." She smiled as they skidded around a sharp corner, but she only laughed. She trusted Raph, he was a good driver, and she happened to like an exciting ride.

"You're taking the sharp turns better den other gurls."

"How many other girls have you had on your bike Raphael?"

"Just you toots, just you." He accelerated again, and Li had a sneaking suspicion that it was to get her to hold on tighter to him. He finally came to a stop by the water front. After parking his bike in an alley, he grabbed Li and started leading her to a fire escape.

"Raph?"

"Climb, or do you want me stare at your ass all night?"

"Like you would mind." She started climbing up the fire escape, finally reaching the top of the building. She looked around and realized this is why Raph took her here.

"Wow."

"Good view, right?" His voice startled her; she still wasn't used to him sneaking up on her. "I come here a lot."

"I can see why." The building over looked the harbor, the city was lit up and the light reflected in the water. She watched a ferry slowly pass under the Brooklyn Bridge, destroying the image the peaceful water had created.

"C'mon." Raph led her to the edge of the building and sat down. Li followed suit, sitting farther away and leaning backward. She was slightly afraid of heights. He turned toward her. "I won't let you fall." He pulled her closer to the edge so she was sitting right next to him, their legs touching. She grasped the edge tightly, and he laughed and looked into her eyes. "Relax." She swallowed and eased her grip, focusing on the scenery instead of looking down. "You don't like heights do you?"

"We don't have tall buildings where I'm from. They're unnatural." Raph let out a bark of laughter.

"What's unnatural 'bout dem?"

"What if the support structure gives out? What if you fall off? It's a straight fall, there's nothing to catch you except for pavement."

"I'd catch you before the pavement."

"I think the pavement might be faster than you."

"Pavement don't move babe."

"I'd still hit it before you could catch me, and if you caught me, then what? You'd be falling too."

"Ninja remember?"

"That's not going to make a difference to gravity." He pulled her closer to him and put his arm around her shoulder.

"Den I better you make sure you don't fall." He held her close to him, and she let him. _'It might be too late.'_ She thought.

.


	12. New Horizons

A/N: Thanks to Made up dreams, wonderwomanbatmanfan, and egyptianluver for your reviews. The level of your awesomeness cannot be measured. Happy Easter Everyone!

P.S. We added parts of _Turtles Forever_, so if you haven't seen it you might be confused.

Warning: There's a lime so read cautiously.

New Horizons

"Well, what are the results? Is it stable?" Bishop stood in front of a liquid-filled glass container, several men in white coats around him, studying the contents. The man standing next to him answered.

"We believe so, in fact, none of the side-effects that led to the death of the others has affected this one so far. I believe we have finally perfected the serum." Bishop scrutinized the figure in the glass tube.

"And its mind?"

"Completely blank. We are waiting to upload the directives into his brain now." Bishop nodded, pleased.

"Good. Call me when you are finished. As soon as we are sure of the success of this one, you may start on the others." He gestured toward the line of glass tubes on the wall filled with liquid, all holding unconscious humans. They were all in their late teens and early twenties, numbers labeling their containers. The scientist nodded.

"Yes sir."

Leo was in the dojo setting up for his training with Piper, today he was going to teach her with daitos and hopefully this time she wouldn't start fencing. He still needed to break her of that habit. He smiled, thinking of everything that happened yesterday. He didn't think he could ever have something like this, a relationship with someone he cared deeply about. It was new and exciting and he couldn't be happier.

Piper entered the dojo yawning. She was only wearing black shorts and a sports bra. Leo dropped the daito he was holding. This wasn't going to work.

"Raph!"

"What?" His brother yelled from the kitchen.

"We need to switch students."

"What?" He sighed.

"Just come here, and bring Li!" The two of them entered the dojo looking confused, Li in sweatpants and a tank top. Leo crossed his arms.

"I've decided that it's time that we switch so that the two of you can benefit from learning from different teachers. Raph and I have very different styles, so in order to expand your---" Raph interrupted him.

"No need Fearless, Li likes my style just fine." Piper looked over at Raph and Li standing next to each other and thought of her and Leo's moment during their training yesterday. Ah, so that was it.

"Okay, let's do this thing, I haven't eaten breakfast yet, so you can go first." Piper left the dojo and dragged a sputtering Raph out with her. Leo and Li blinked.

"Alright, well, let's get started."

"Hey, what's the big idea?" Piper let go of Raph as they entered the kitchen.

"I can't train with Leo anymore because we don't actually get any training done now."

"Why?"

"We kind of started…well I guess you could call it dating."

"What?"

"You heard me, I'm shacking up with your big brother." Raph stood still mouthing silently, looking like a fish out of water, trying to comprehend what Piper just said.

"You and Leo?"

"God, don't seem so surprised, it's not like you don't want to get into Li's pants. I just had the guts to do something about it."

"So dat's why he needed ta switch."

"Yeah, and I can't lose any more tops." Raph sputtered.

"Rule one: As my student you're never allowed to say anything like dat ever again."

"Aye aye captain." She saluted him and went to pour herself a bowl of cereal. At least now she could sleep in late. Raph didn't believe in mornings.

Meanwhile, Leo was attempting to train Li. But he understood what Raph meant now, she fought dirty, used the fact that she was a girl to her advantage, and didn't listen to him.

"This is ninjutsu, not a bar fight!"

"Well I'm not good enough to beat you, so I have to cheat. Besides, if some guy on the street attacked me, would you rather I get raped then fight dirty?" Leo stared at her, horrified.

"No. No that would be bad. But…bushido, bushido says fighting dirty is bad. But being attacked is bad. But not being honorable is bad." Leo promptly fainted. His mind could not process the thought of not being honorable in a battle, and had shut down.

"Huh." Li shrugged and stepped over him, hoping Piper hadn't eaten all the cereal. She walked into the kitchen and sat down. Piper and Raph stared at her.

She walked into the kitchen and sat down. Piper and Raph stared at her.

"You can't be done already." Li nodded.

"I have defeated him, so I am done." They stared at her in disbelief and Piper left to go check on Leo. She found him on the floor of the dojo.

"LI! WHAT DID YOU DO?" Raph looked at Li, who was calmly eating her cereal, and decided to go check it out himself. He found Piper patting Leo's cheek, trying to wake him up. He whistled, then walked back into the kitchen shaking his head.

"How da shell did you manage ta beat Leo?" Li shrugged.

"I gave him a scenario where honorable fighting wasn't an option." Raph nodded.

"Yeah dat would do it."

Piper was trying to wake up her boyfriend. His eyes finally fluttered open.

"Piper?"

"Yeah, it's me, what did Li do?" He shook his head.

"Can't…remember." Piper nodded, probably it was so traumatizing he blocked his own memory.

"Come on, let's get you up. Here." She directed him toward the couch and sat him down. He merely stared at the blank tv. She sighed, then walked back into the kitchen.

"You broke him, you fix him. Come on, it's my turn." Raph followed her into the dojo while Li took her bowl of cereal into the living room and sat down next to Leo.

"So, um…my bad?" Leo continued to stare blankly at the tv. "Oh I know why don't we watch something? Oh look Leo, Oprah." Leo didn't move, he had yet to blink since waking up. "Oh, Oprah's doing a special on abusive relationships." No reaction. "See Leo, this is why women that don't know how to fight need to fight dirty. This is what could happen. You don't want this to happen do you? Sometimes fighting dirty is okay, there's an exception to every rule and this is that. I mean what if Piper had fought dirty? Nothing bad would have happened." This finally gained a reaction.

"What happened to Piper?" Li realized she just made a huge mistake.

"I think I hear Mikey calling. What's that Mikey? Oh I'll be right there." Li jumped over the couch trying to get away from Leo. Unfortunately for Li he was a ninja and was in front of her blocking her path, before she had time to blink. "Oops."

"What happened to Piper?"

"Look Leo, I can't tell you, and I'm not going to. It's none of your business." Leo frowned.

"It _is_ my business if something bad happened to my girlfriend." This got Li's attention.

"Girlfriend?"

"Piper's my girlfriend."

"Since when? …Does she know?" She noticed the turtles had a tendency to declare relationships without consulting the other party.

"Of course she knows."

"Huh." This was an interesting development. Piper dating Leo confirmed the fact that she really could be with Raph, but how would that even work? "I have to go get Piper now." She went into the dojo and grabbed Piper by her pony tail and dragged her out of the dojo.

"Explain."

"Ow." Piper was rubbing her head, hoping her hair wouldn't fall out after the tugging Li had given it. "Explain what?"

"You and Leo."

"Oh that."

"Yeah that."

"I don't really know. He was training and it was after you and Raph left, and I just wanted to see what would happen. And I kissed him and he kissed me back, and here we are."

"It couldn't have been that simple."

"Well maybe if you weren't so stubborn it would be that simple." Piper left Li standing there, thinking about what she said.

"Damn." Piper was right. Why did this have to be the one time Piper was right? "Damn."

Leo stood outside of the bathroom, waiting for Piper to be done with her shower. When she finally came out with her hair dripping wet and wrapped in a towel, Leo momentarily forgot why it was he was waiting for her. His mouth went dry as he watched as a drop of water fall in the valley between her breasts. She smelled like cherry blossoms and green tea; he made a mental note to thank April for the shampoo she brought her.

"Hey Da Vinci what's up, glad to see you're coherent." He had to tell himself to focus. He was waiting for her for a reason.

"Hey." Shell, why did his voice have to sound husky ever time he spoke to her? He cleared his throat. "I need to talk to you."

"Can it wait till I'm dressed?"

'_I'd prefer it if you stayed naked.' _He banished that thought to the back of his head. He was here for a reason.

"Sure. Come to my room when you're done."

"Kay." She kissed his cheek and headed to her room. He watched her leave, before leaving to pick up his already clean room.

Piper entered his room and hopped on his bed, picking up his copy of _The Art of War _and paging through it. She carefully put the book back in its place, Leo's room was neat to a fault and she didn't want to be the one to mess it up.

"Sooo Da Vinci, watcha wanna talk about?" She wiggled her eyebrows at him. He sat down on the bed with her.

"You're alright with this?"

"Yeah Leo sitting next to me is fine." She received another blank look, and started laughing. "I know what you mean and I'm the one who initiated it. If anything, I should ask you if you're the one okay with this. I'm a handful you know." She laughed again and started braiding his mask. He grabbed her hand.

"What happened to you?"

"What?"

"I was talking to Li, and she mentioned something that caught my attention…Piper, who hurt you?" Piper let his mask slip through her fingers, and froze.

"Li told you?" Her voice was coming out icy and low, Leo could sense the anger she was trying to suppress radiating off of her. But there was something else too. Fear?

"No, she just said something about how you'd been hurt once." Piper stood up and walked out of Leo's room, pausing at the door.

"I don't talk about it, so don't ask about it." She left him sitting alone in his room.

He had been waiting for this moment for over two years, he could hardly contain himself. Bishop stood over him as his assistants strapped him to the table.

"This is just a precaution, I've been told it will be quite painful." He didn't care, he had waited so long for this.

"Begin." There was pain, searing pain. He screamed and writhed, shaking the restraints. All of a sudden, it was over, and he was panting. The table righted itself and the restraints popped open. He looked at his hands and flexed his arms, finally himself again. Bishop smirked.

"Welcome back."

Li sat on her bed in Mikey's room, contemplating. Much to Mikey's dismay, she and Raph were not yet a couple. Frankly, Li didn't know how to go about this type of thing, simply because she had never done it before. She had always scorned relationships, simply because she had always believed that she was already whole, and didn't need to be with anyone to feel that way. She was wrong, and now she didn't know what to do about it. Not to mention she had seen Piper's failed relationships through the years and become jaded as a result. But Raph was different, after all, he wasn't human. And she had never wanted to actually pair up with someone before. She sighed. Relationships were hard.

She changed into a pair of jeans and a t-shirt and put on a black jacket before looking around and darting toward the secret entrance. She pushed the lever and the door opened. She slid out and pulled out her flashlight. She knew it was dumb, she knew it was stupid and rash and begging for trouble, but she needed to get out of the lair for a bit. There wasn't a warrant out for her arrest anymore, and it was noon. How much trouble could she get into at noon in broad day light in a large city? Well, probably a lot, but she needed to be away from everyone for a bit.

Mikey was bummed out. Raph and Li were supposed to be a couple by now, and although Piper and Leo were one now, Piper was ignoring him. So now the girls were down in the dumps and his brothers were being thick-skulled and moody. Fine, if no one else was going to do something about it, then he was.

"Donny, I need your help."

"Sure Mike, what do you need?" Mikey leaned in close to his brother, and whispered his plan to him. "Are you sure that's a good idea?"

"Absolutely! When have I ever had a bad plan bro?"

"Do you want me to start chronologically, or alphabetically?"

Li strode down the streets, feeling free as a bird. She window-shopped, got starbucks, and people-watched for hours. Keeping her mind off of things by going out for a day worked perfectly, everything seemed clearer. As it became darker, she entered a popular bar she had seen earlier that day, and got a seat in the back and just watched the people come in. She felt detached from them, from the life she used to lead. They had no idea what went on right under their noses, what the government was doing, and who lived under their city and protected them. And she resented it. She resented these people being able to do whatever they wanted while her friends were stuck underground just because of their appearance. Sometimes she hated people.

Meanwhile, Mikey was hatching an incredibly brilliant plan. He had just thrown Piper into a closet and told Leo.

"Hey Leo, Piper got locked in a closet, come help her!" Leo walked out of his room, bewildered. Why couldn't Mikey help her himself? He opened the closet door, only to be pushed in, the door shutting and locking behind him. Mikey also put a chair underneath it for good measure.

"Have fun!" They both pounded on the door.

"What the heck's he doing?"

"I don't know, he just tossed me in here!" Piper huffed and sat down cross-legged on the ground. The room was dark, and she couldn't see anything, but she had a feeling Leo could.

"Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I landed on my ass." He sat down next to her.

"…I'm sorry." She sighed and leaned against him. "I heard you had been hurt and I lost it. I don't like the thought of anyone hurting you."

"It's not your fault Leo. I know you were just curious." She put her head on his shoulder and started tracing the patterns on his arm. "How long do you think he's going to keep us in here?"

"Knowing Mikey?"

"We're going to be here for a long time."

"Yeah."

"At least we've got space to move around. One time when I was little my brother locked me in the dryer." Leo let out a very un-Leo-like snort of laughter.

"He locked you in a dryer?"

"Oh yeah, we were playing hide-and-seek and he told me the dryer was the best place to hide, and then he decided it would be funny to lock me in it. I had to wait until my mom did laundry to get out. She was maaaad."

"So was it before or after the dyer incident you got weird?"

"Hey!" She gave him a playful shove. "This coming from the kung-fu turtle?"

"It's not kung-fu it's ninjustsu, I thought I taught you better than that."

"Oh I'm so sorry how could I have made such a grievous error? How can I make it up to you?"

"I can think of a few things."

"I bet you can." Piper couldn't see in the dark, but she could tell Leo was smirking at her. He gripped the back of her head and kissed her, his tongue caressing her lips, begging for entrance that she happily granted. The last time he kissed her it had been intense and urgent, this time it was soft and sweet. He lowered her to the floor, and she wrapped her arms around his neck. One of his hands travelled down her arm to entwine with her fingers near her head as he broke away from her, both of them breathing heavily. He bent down and buried his face in her neck, inhaling her scent. He nipped her exposed flesh and reveled in her soft cries. She felt him finger the hem of her shirt and she pulled away.

"I don't have enough clothes for you to keep ripping them off of me." He leaned back and watched as she slowly slid off her shirt, his hungry eyes savoring the flesh that was exposed to him. He grasped her hips and pulled her down on top of him, their lips meeting as she straddled his hips. She fingered the ends of his bandana as he caressed her sides, his fingers moving down to play with her belt loops. She moved to kiss his neck and he yanked her pants down off of her hips. They were slightly too big so they slid right down her legs, Leo helping them along. His fingers trailed to her nether regions, playing with her lace thong. He placed an experimental finger in her, playing with her. Piper froze. She took several deep breaths and tried to calm her racing heart. Leo stopped.

"Piper, what's wrong?" She swallowed and pulled away from him, landing on the floor. She moved away from him against the wall and curled up and held her legs, focusing on not panicking. Leo sat up. "Piper, talk to me. Piper?" He touched her, realizing too late that was a mistake.

"No!" She started shaking violently, crying and rocking back and forth. Leo hovered over her, unsure. Piper was trying to regain control of her breathing. This wasn't happening. She was with Leo, she was safe. She was back in that room, and he was looking down at her. A new stream of tears poured down her face, and she let out a sob. She was over this!

"Piper?" Leo crouched down in front of her, being careful to avoid touching her. "Piper do you remember what I told you about meditation and breathing?" Her head barely moved, but he made it out to be a nod, at least she was listening to him. "Focus on your breathing. Let everything else fade from your mind. It's just you and your breath." She took a shaky breath in, and exhaled, repeating the process until she stopped seeing his face. She let out another shaky breath and looked up at Leo.

"L-Leo?"

"Hey." Piper tried wiping the tears from her face, maybe she could salvage this. Maybe she could pass it off as a bad joke? She looked at him. No he wouldn't fall for that.

"I'm sorry. God, I'm so sorry." She started crying again.

"No, it's not your fault, I shouldn't have done that. I'm sorry." She didn't seem to hear him.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I never wanted it to happen. I'm sorry." They both knew she wasn't talking about her panic attack. He hesitantly wrapped his arms around her, and she cried into his chest.

"It's okay, I don't blame you. It's not your fault." He rubbed her back, trying to calm her down. "Shh, it's okay. It's okay. Nothing's going to hurt you." Her tears were starting to subside. She laid her head against Leo's plastron. He kept saying things to calm her down; she had stopped understanding what he had said a long time ago.

"I trusted him. I shouldn't have trusted him. I know I shouldn't have. But I did." She was rambling now, but Leo knew if he interrupted her, he would never learn what had happened to her.

"We started dating, and I really liked him. I really, really liked him, and we were dating." She felt the tears form again. "I should have known. I should have been smarter, I should have known better. I should have known better!" The tears had finally spilled over. "We weren't together long. I didn't want to sleep with him. It didn't feel right. It wasn't supposed to be like that. It was supposed to be sweet and special. And I told him no, and I told him I didn't want this. But I had been drinking, and he wouldn't let me leave. He wouldn't let me leave. And I was drunk and he wouldn't drive me home. And I didn't want this! I was drunk and I couldn't stop him." Leo held her closer as she was absorbed in her memories. His anger was overpowering. He would kill that boy if he ever found him.

"And I'm sorry I freaked out at you, and I'm sorry I wasn't strong enough. And I'm sorry that you think I'm a whore, and I'm sorry you hate me, and I'm sorry that I let it happen. And I'm sorry, oh god I'm so sorry." She was sobbing again.

"Piper, look at me." He brushed the tears away from her eyes. "You're not a whore. I could never hate you. And it was **not **your fault." _'And I will kill him.'_ "It was his, and only his fault. You need to accept this so you can move on. Don't hold onto this, it will only fester inside of you, and he's not worth your thoughts. He's not worth your tears." He looked into her eyes and gently wiped away a tear that had been moving down her cheek. He cupped her face gently with one hand

"I would never hurt you, and I promise I'll help you through this. Alright?" She nodded. "Alright, come here." He lay down on the floor and she curled up against his plastron. "I want you to focus yourself and find your center. Focus on your center, on the core of your being. Deep inside, you're the same as you've always been, and that will never change. Think about how you want to feel, about moving past all of this, and focus on that feeling. Bring it to the forefront of your mind, and make it a reality." He was going to keep going, but he felt her breathing slow and he looked down to see that she had fallen asleep in his arms. He kissed the top of her head. "I will never let something like that happen to you again. I promise."

Several hours had passed and Li was beginning to get tired. She hadn't actually come to any conclusions about her and Raph, but her head felt clearer, and it felt great to go out and about like a normal person again. She threw on her black jacket over her red shirt and left the bar, looking down the streets. It was around eight now, the streets just now coming alive with the night crowd. It was a crisp, clear night, the moon shining above her. Which way would be fastest? She knew that going and backtracking would take her to the entrance she came through, but it would be faster if she could just get to a manhole closer to the lair, so she took a right, giving herself three blocks to find a manhole to go down. It wouldn't be hard, they were everywhere around here, right? She walked down the barely lit streets, carefully observing her surroundings like Raph taught her. She walked tall and kept to the light, which ended when she turned the next corner. Ah, there it was. The manhole was across the street in an alley. She looked both ways and crossed the street. Almost there.

He had walked the streets feeling powerful and terrifying everyone in his path. So this is what it felt like to be reborn. He liked it. He knew he had business to take care of, but right now he was going to do what he wanted. That included going to the fight club and reminding everyone who was boss, and that included going to his favorite bar, and getting his favorite beer, and being able to hold it in his hand and not crush it. But around his third beer he had started to feel odd. He couldn't be getting drunk, it took way more than three beers to do that. Possibly it was a side-effect? Maybe he shouldn't have had alcohol so soon, it did have a tendency to affect medicines and serums. So he put down his beer and left the bar, taking a little walk to calm his nerves. Getting into the fresh air did help a little, and he took great pleasure in snarling at anyone that came near him, reveling in being top dog once again. He turned the corner, heading toward another one of his old haunts, when he felt a sharp stabbing pain on his side. He growled, that was when he saw her.

"Well, well, if it isn't my lucky night." He murmured. A girl was crossing the street, she was wearing gray jeans and a black jacket, her long hair blowing in the wind. She walked with a confident gait, but he could tell that she wasn't from this part of town. Especially since she was heading toward a dead end. This was just what he needed to feel better. He followed her as she crossed the street, watching as she slowly approached a manhole on the ground. What was she doing?

"Is the poor little kitty lost?" Li's eyes widened but she didn't physically react. Her father played pranks on her and her brother growing up, so it was very hard to startle her. She turned around slowly to see a massive shape blocking the mouth of the alley. A huge man with a blonde ponytail and a purple dragon tattoo on his arm was smirking at her, his arms crossed, looking like Christmas had just come early.

"No." She resisted the urge to back up when he stalked toward her, instead, she stayed her ground and kept her face schooled in a calm expression. There was no way she was going to give this guy the satisfaction of knowing she was scared.

"Then how is it that you ended up in a dark alley all by yourself, little girl?" She crossed her arms.

"Maybe because I walked over here? Now, if you'll excuse me." She took out her shell cell and punched two buttons. It sent a distress signal straight to Donny, that is, if he's monitoring her. She then started dialing Mikey's number, when Hun smacked the phone out of her hand. She unconsciously backed up against the brick wall behind her, and he stood over her menacingly.

"How rude, and here I thought we were having a nice conversation." He rested his arm above her head and she leaned back as far as she could. This was not good. It was then she heard the sound of a motorcycle in the distance.

"Get your paws off a' her!" Li looked over Hun's shoulders.

"Raph!" He flew off his bike and kicked Hun in the back of the head.

"Hun."

"Oh look, it's one of the freaks. Is he your boyfriend little kitty?"

"I told you ta get da fuck away from her!" He punched Hun in the face and grabbed Li, pulling her onto his bike. He revved the engine and sped away from Hun. Before Hun could recover he collapsed in pain. It felt like his insides were on fire, he let out a painful scream.

"Argh!" He looked at his arms and saw scales appear. His skin was starting to turn green. No! This couldn't be happening! Bishop had cured him!

Once Raph was a safe distance away he slowed his bike and skidded to a stop in an alley. He turned around and glared at Li.

"You wanna tell me what da shell you were doing? I've been looking for you all day! He coulda killed you!" She didn't answer him. "You're just lucky I was in da neighborhood. If Don hadn't told me where you were… Do you know what he coulda done to you?!"

"Shut up Raph, I don't want to hear it."

"Well you're gonna hear it!"

"Take me home Raph." He muttered curses under his breath and started his bike again, speeding home to the lair.

Once they arrived back at the lair, Li jumped off the shell cycle and headed to her room before Raph could stop her. He pulled off his helmet and threw it to the ground before following her. He got his hand in the door just as she was closing it, and muscled his way in.

"Oh no, we ain't done yet." He saw her angry expression and felt like Leo when he was scolding him. But if he had to act like Leo to get through to her, he would.

Li stood in her room facing Raph. What was he doing here and where was Piper? Usually when there was an awkward moment brewing she could sense it and she'd come to save her. Not this time, this time she was face to face with Raph, and the look in his eyes was so intense she felt like they would swallow her whole. This is why she left for the day. She couldn't be around him yet.

"You wanna explain what you were thinking?"

"I wanted to get out of here for a bit."

"Without tellin' no one?" _'Without telling me?' _"I woulda come wit' yah."

"That's what I was trying to avoid." He was on her in a flash.

"Wanna say that again?"

"Oh crap. I said that out loud?"

"Yeah babe, you did." She tried avoiding his gaze, looking anywhere else but at him. She heard him sigh and felt his arms wrap around her, pulling her tightly against him. "I want you." What was he saying? She didn't want to hear this now. "I want you and I know you want me too. So once you get that through your thick skull, I'll be waiting. Cause I don't wait for much babe, but for you I'd be willing ta wait forever. So hurry up and decide what you want." He whispered the last part in her ear, causing her to shudder. And before she could process what had just happened he released her and left her standing alone in her room. She slid down against the wall. What was she going to do?


	13. Unfamiliar Territory

A/N: Thank you egyptianluver, wonderwomanbatmanfan, and NeonStargurl for your reviews. And you're right NeonStargurl Li needs to get off her ass and make it with the red clad turtle. Thanks all you're the best. Enjoy the next installment of Run that by Me Again.

Unfamiliar Territory

"You lied to me!" Hun roared, his fist smashing the wall next to Bishop. Right after Raphael had taken the girl away on his bike, Hun had painfully reverted back to his mutated form.

"My, it looks like the serum only lasts for twenty four hours, well, I guess it's back to the lab."

"You, you planned this! I'll------" Bishop coolly surveyed the giant mutated turtle formerly known as Hun in front of him. Of course he knew. He planned it, didn't he?

"You do me a little favor, and I'll make sure my men get it right next time." Hun snarled. "Ah ah, you _do_ want to be cured, don't you?"

"What do you want?" Bishop smirked.

----------

"Pass the hash browns." Donatello, Michelangelo, Splinter, Raphael, and Li sat around the breakfast table starting their day off with the most important meal of the day.

"My son these sausages are very good. You've outdone yourself today."

"Thank you sensei. You should try the cinnamon rolls next."

"Oh thank you my son." Donny took a sip of orange juice before addressing Li.

"Hey, do you know where Piper is? I need her help with some genetic coding." Li frowned.

"Uhh, I don't know, she wasn't in our room last night, and she didn't sleep on the couch." Li looked at Mikey and Donny just as they all came to the same conclusion.

"Oh, I'm sure she's fine." They all looked down at their plates.

"I think I will go look for Leonardo." Splinter stood up from the table and Mikey and Li looked at each other in panic. "But first I think I will replace my meditation candles." Li sighed in relief as Splinter headed toward the storage closet. Mikey's eyes widened.

"Uh oh."

"What?"

"LEONARDO!" Master Splinter had opened the supply closet to get more candles and had discovered Leonardo and Piper asleep on the floor together with Piper's pants shoved over in the corner. His voice startled them awake. They both jumped up, Leo trying to explain what had happened and Piper looking for her clothes.

"Father, this isn't what it looks like."

"Oh Leonardo?"

"Piper and I were locked in the closet and she…then…but we…we didn't…it's not what it looks like!" Mikey was trying to hide his laughter in his orange juice as they heard the conversation from the supply closet. Donny merely looked wide-eyed.

"They didn't." Li didn't even look up.

"Nope." They looked at her.

"How do you know?" She shrugged.

"Cause I know Piper, and she'd never do it in a supply closet." Mikey snorted as they listened to Splinter grill Leo.

"Come on you two, we are going to have a talk." Leo and a newly dressed Piper followed Splinter to the dojo with their heads down. The occupants of the kitchen craned their necks to watch as they walked by. Li caught Piper's eye and she shrugged. Splinter closed the door behind them and directed them to sit.

"Now, I did not think I was going to have to do this, but I did not know your relationship had progressed this far. You see, when you are young, you---" But at that moment Piper interrupted him.

"Master Splinter?"

"Yes child?"

"I had this talk with my mom when I was younger, and the talk is really more of a mother-daughter, father-son thing." Splinter contemplated this for a moment.

"You are right Miss Jones. You are free to go."

"Thank you Master Splinter." She bowed and left Splinter's room, throwing Leo an apologetic look.

"Oh and Miss Jones, please send in the rest of my sons, they should be here for this as well." Piper left the room feeling quite pleased with herself; she rounded the corner and found everyone staring at her, trying to figure out what had been happening.

"What?"

"What happened? Where are Leo and Master Splinter?"

"Splinter's giving Leo a talk and he wants the three of you in there to hear it too." The turtles sighed and marched into their sensei's room. Li looked at her.

"A talk?"

"_**The**_ talk." Neither girl could keep the grin off their faces.

"Oh, that's great." They were both trying to quiet their snickers.

"I know, you should have seen the look on Leo's face. It was priceless." They went back into the kitchen and warmed up the pancakes.

"So…."

"No, no, and no."

"Ah."

"So, where were you yesterday?" Li choked.

"Ummm, I kinda snuck out."

"You snuck out?"

"Uhhh, yeah. And everything went great until I tried to get back here, this huge guy cornered me in an alley and Raph, uh, saved me." She looked down at her coffee, her pale skin turning red. Piper sighed.

"Damn you got it bad. He even came to your rescue huh?"

"Yeah, then gave me a lecture, and told me he wanted me."

"He did? What did you say?!"

"Uh, nothing." Piper's head hit the table in frustration.

"Why?"

"Because I don't know what I want! And we're in this whole weird situation, and now is probably not even the best time for this, but I've never been in a relationship. I don't want him to just, you know, want me for---" Piper cut her off.

"Just tell me exactly what he said."

"He said he wanted me and he knew I wanted him, and he'd wait till I was ready."

"God I can see why that would freak you out. Some boy you actually like, that you know is a good guy, told you he likes you, and he's willing to wait for you. You poor thing." She scoffed.

"I've never done this before!" Li waved her arms frantically around, knocking over the orange juice.

"So what?! You've never done it before, you've never had a relationship before, well guess what Li? You've also never lived in a sewer, been a wanted fugitive, learned ninjustsu, and befriended mutants before, but look where you are."

"It's not that simple."

"How is it not simple?"

"I don't do relationships!" Piper sighed.

"No one's asking you to. All Raph's doing is asking for you to give him a chance, cause guess what Li. This isn't going to last. Bishop's going to be stopped, and we're going to go home. I can do a long distance relationship, and I can still be with Leo. But you can't. You've got here and now, and that's all. So decide what you want cause either way I'm not going to listen to you complain. Now if you'll excuse me I slept in my clothes and I want a shower." She started to leave the kitchen. "And just for future reference turtles are great kissers." She left room, leaving Li sitting at the table. She sighed.

Forty five minutes later saw the girls doing their daily sit-ups, push-ups, and chin-ups, when the turtles and Master Splinter finally exited the dojo.

"And that my sons, is how the reproductive system works." Li snorted and managed to pass it off as a cough, as Splinter headed toward his room. The door shut and the turtles collapsed.

"Oh my shell." Mikey collapsed on the couch with a groan. Donny leaned against the wall and Raph threw a half-hearted punch at his punching-bag, and missed. Leo merely stood in place. The girls looked at each other.

"Come on, it couldn't have been that bad."

"It was terrible! It was all about rats! Rats! He barely knows anything about human sexuality!" Li looked at Donny, confused.

"But, you guys are turtles." Donny blushed.

"Well yeah, but, I mean, if we were going to, you know…..it wouldn't _be_ with turtles, since there aren't any more."

"Oh….Oh!" Li got it. "So you mean when Piper and Leo have sex Leo's going to pull some crazy turtle rat sex moves?" Piper looked vaguely horrified and Leo was hiding in his shell from embarrassment.

"Uh no, that's not what I meant."

"He means Master Splinter gave us the wrong talk."

"Oh, I know how to fix this! Don't worry Piper I won't let Leo pull weird rat turtle sex moves on you." Neither Leo nor Piper had been able to speak during this entire conversation, they were just standing still blushing scarlet. They watched as Li skipped out of the room, still unable to speak. Li raced back in with a copy of Cosmo.

"Here you go! Read this and you'll know all about sex!" She grabbed Piper's arm and raced out of the room. "C'mon Piper we have to leave the boys alone so they can study." Donny examined the magazine curiously.

"99 Sex moves: sweet and slow, quick and dirty, and everything in between." The turtles gathered around him.

"This has gotta be better den what Master Splinter told us." Mikey nudged Donny's shoulder.

"Well, read it!"

"So."

"So." Piper and Li were in Mikey's room, paging absently through his comic books.

"I miss college." Piper sighed.

"Yeah, me too, at least I had something else to do with the day."

"It's just, I was already so behind. It took me so long to get into the groove of things after I took a year off, and this is setting me back even farther. Not that I don't love being here, because I do. But I'm so tired of hiding, I just want to get on with my life!" Li threw her arms up in the air, then flopped back down on the bottom bunk.

"Well how do you think they feel? They're twenty-two and they've had to live underground their entire lives. We've been here for three weeks."

"I know! I know."

"Being cooped up in here isn't the real reason you're restless is it?" Li remained silent. Piper sighed. "You still haven't decided what to do about Raph?" Her question was answered with more silence. "What's the worst that could happen? I mean really? You find out you guys don't make a good couple and go your separate ways, or maybe you'll end up being happy?"

"No! Raph isn't the reason! I want my life back that's all. Stop reading into things!"

"Fine Li, whatever." Piper paged through the comic book she was reading, ignoring her friend. It was Li's problem not hers and she was sick of Li being in denial about Raphael.

Li huffed and left Mikey's room, not noticing the turtle hiding in the shadows.

Hun sniffed the air experimentally. His sense of smell was excellent in his mutated form, and now he could finally put it to good use. He waited until nightfall and headed back toward the ally he met his kitten in. One of the turtles had come after her, meaning it was likely that wherever she was, he would be too. And her scent was much sweeter and easier to track, though it was getting weaker. He looked up at the dark clouds in the sky and growled. If he didn't get started, the rain would wash away her scent for good.

"Bishop, you better deliver."

Piper sighed and flopped down on the couch next to Leo, who was reading. Without taking his eyes off the page, he pulled Piper closer to him.

"You owe me you know."

"Da Vinci dear I have no idea what you're talking about."

"I had to sit through Master Splinter's lecture about mating season while you read comics."

"Actually I was working out, I read comics after you were done with your talk." She grabbed the remote and turned on the tv, flipping through the channels, before finally landing on a Spanish soap opera.

"This is my favorite show."

"Have you ever actually seen this show before? Do you even speak Spanish?"

"I don't have to speak Spanish or have to have seen this show before to know that I love it. Look that's Ricardo and his evil brother Hernandez, who is pretending to be a priest in order to infiltrate the Vatican. And that's Lucinda, Ricardo's love interest."

"This is a car commercial."

"Well you don't have to be so snippy about it." Leo kissed her temple and went back to reading as Piper switched the channel to Wheel of Fortune. Raph had been heading toward his room when he saw Li walk toward one of the tunnels.

"Hey, where are you going?" Li paused outside the tunnel that led to April's house.

"I was going to go visit April." She really needed to talk to another woman besides Piper, she was being less than helpful.

"Yeah? Maybe I'll come wit ya."

"I'm not going to leave again. And I'll stay away from the windows." Raph stepped closer to her.

"I know." She looked down so he couldn't see how he affected her. She had never blushed before meeting him.

"Umm, well, see you later." She crossed her arms and started through the tunnel. Raph watched her leave.

"Yeah, see ya." He said softly. She reached April's and knocked on the wall when she made it up the stairs. April exited her bedroom, putting in a pair of earrings.

"Li! What are you doing here?" Li shrugged.

"I needed a change of scenery." She sat down on April's couch and picked up one of her magazines and sighed. April sat down next to her.

"Once Casey is done with work we're going out, but I have an open ear until then."

"How did you know something was wrong?"

"A woman always knows. Now what's on your mind?"

"Raphael." April remained silent letting Li take her time. "Everyone keeps on saying we should be a couple, but I've only known him for a few weeks, and I'm indecisive and I don't just jump into relationships." April was quite for a minute.

"I can see where you're coming from. I mean Raph has a real anger problem, and he's head strong, stubborn too." Li frowned.

"He might have an anger problem, but that's just because he doesn't want anyone he cares about to get hurt. He's angry because of the people out there that would cause trouble and hurt innocent people, and he knows he can't stop them all. And he might be stubborn, but he's incredibly loyal and he has a big heart, even though he doesn't show it."

"Seems like you already made up your mind about him."

"So you think I should go for it?"

"I think you should do whatever you're comfortable with. It's your life. Now if you'll excuse me I think I hear my husband. You can stay here for as long as you'd like."

"Thanks April." The older woman gave Li a soft smile.

"Any time." Li sat next to the window by April's couch, careful not to be seen, and watched the rain fall.

Meanwhile, Hun splashed through the rain, enraged.

"No!" He couldn't lose her scent, not now, not when it was getting stronger. He was close, he could feel it. But the rain erased her trail and he was left near a manhole around Midtown. He curled his lip in disgust.

"Disgusting creatures, living down here." He lowered himself down into the sewers. "It won't be long now. I will find you!"

Back at the Lair…

"There's no way you're gonna beat me bro. I'm the street fighter champion in this family!"

"Wanna bet Mikey?"

Mikey and Donny were playing videogames in the living room. Piper had fallen asleep on Leo soon after they started playing, effectively trapping him on the couch. The sound of the garage door opening was heard followed by the sound of the shell cycle. Raphael had returned.

"Hey Raph." He grunted.

"Where ya been bro?"

"Nowhere."

"Don't buy that Mike. He was at April's."

"Why?" Mikey looked confused.

"Li was there."

"Bro you might be taken this crush into creepy territory." Raphael thumped his brother on the head. He looked over to Piper.

"She asleep?"

"Like a rock."

"Good. I didn't tell ya guys yesterday, but Hun's back."

"What?"

"I ran inta him. He attacked Li, and now he knows she's wit us."

Several hours later, Li woke up to a clap of thunder and lightning flashing against April's window. She blinked awake and sat up in alarm, calming down when she realized where she was. She yawned and smoothed through her hair and reached for her jacket, which she had been using as a blanket. Her short sleeved white t-shirt didn't provide much cover. She shrugged it on and looked at the clock, only to see it was almost eleven.

"You know, that movie wasn't so bad after all." April giggled as she and Casey made a break for her apartment through the rain.

"Who would guess that Casey Jones would like romantic comedies."

"Just don't tell anyone."

"Your secret's safe with me. Hang on, just let me get my keys." April reached into her purse to grab her keys, when a large shadow appeared behind her.

"April, move it!" Casey shoved April out of the way just as Hun lunged forward. "What the?" Hun tossed Casey against the wall like a ragdoll and yanked the door off its hinges. He stomped up the stairs, triumphant. He had managed to catch the girl's scent when _those _two passed him in an alley after he came out of the sewers. He could smell her on the red-head, they had been in contact very recently. He grinned as they led him straight back to their home, then attacked. The girl was inside, he could smell her. He made short work of the vigilante, and headed straight up the stairs. He had no time to lose.

"Well kitten, we meet again." Li spun around, horrified. In the doorway stood a huge hulking form, spikes coming from its shoulders, and an identifiable plastron showing through its ripped clothes.

"You." She whispered. He wasn't the same man she had seen in the alley, but she recognized his voice. Now, however, he looked like a cross between a giant turtle and a knife drawer.

"You recognized me even after my make over. Your freaks did this to me, did you know that kitten?" He started advancing on her. She tried to place the coffee table between them, but he just flipped it over. "But don't worry kitten, with your help I'll get the cure I need out of your friends."

"Like hell." Li made a run for it, trying to get into the kitchen and use the fire escape, but she was too slow. Hun laughed as he grabbed her, and started dragging her out of the apartment. She shrieked from under his arm as he hauled her down the stairs. April cradled Casey's head as she tried to rouse him, her makeup streaking down her face from the rain. She gasped as she saw the mutated Hun stomp through the now empty door frame, Li in his arms, scrambling to grab anything in reach.

"Let me go!" He snarled, annoyed, and slammed her head against the wall. She slumped and he shifted her into a more comfortable position. He turned towards April.

"Tell the turtles if they want her back, then meet me at the old theater on St. Marks within the next three hours or we'll keep her." Hun turned his back on April, leaving her sitting in the rain, unable to stop him. April scrambled for her cell phone and opened it with shaky hands.

"Guys? Guys, I need help! He took Li!" Don stared at his screen as his brothers appeared behind him.

"Who April, who took Li?" He pressed urgently.

"Hun."


	14. Too Little, Too Late

A/N: Thanks to lightan117 and Wonderwomanbatmanfan for reviewing the last chapter. Yes, the talk is a terrible thing. Especially when you get the rat version. Remember to keep reviewing and tell up what you think!

Too Little, Too Late

"Well?" Piper stood behind Donny, who had been scanning the network for the last hour. Mikey was busy trying to pick up all the broken pieces that had once been their furniture. When Raph found out that Hun had taken Li, he had gone berserk, tossing chairs and smashing tables. It had taken the three of them and Master Splinter to calm him down. He blamed himself for leaving April's apartment, Hun must have attacked right after he left. He was mad at everyone. He was mad at Hun for taking Li. He was mad at Leo for delaying the rescue. He was mad at Li for leaving, and he was mad at himself for letting this happen to her.

"There doesn't appear to be any extra security or traps set up around the building. It looks about as legit as a kidnapping can be."

"So what are we waitin' for?" Raph cracked his knuckles, he wanted to go _now. _Leo put a hand on his shoulder.

"We can't mess this up, we don't know what they'll do to her." Raph closed his eyes. Yeah, he'd thought about that too. He looked over at Piper.

"April and Casey are on their way over, just in case." After Casey had regained consciousness, April had called the turtles again, and they decided it would be safer for everyone to be in one place. It certainly made Leo feel better, having three fighters that could look after Piper while he was gone.

"Right. Good luck." She hugged Leo, and he held on a little longer than necessary, aware that it could be her in Hun's clutches instead of Li.

"Don't do anything stupid." He whispered in her ear.

"Darn and here I was all set to go rescue Li myself, by charging head first into a room with a mutated gang leader."

"Raph's already got that idea." He held her tighter as she laughed. He loved that sound, and he loved it even more every time he was the one that made her laugh.

"Bring my friend home." He nodded and kissed her quickly before strapping on his katanas and facing his brothers.

"There may not be any visible traps, but we have to stay on our guard. Hun and Bishop must be working together, so he may be there waiting for us too. We get in, get Li, and get out. Got it? We don't have any time for payback now." He aimed the last part at Raphael. His face was stony but he didn't say anything.

"Alright, let's go."

Li groaned as she regained consciousness to a pounding headache. She blinked at the light directly above her and tried to turn away from it, only to find she couldn't move her arms and legs. She craned her head forward to see that she had been strapped to a metal table, metal cuffs over her wrists and ankles. Not to mention, the room she was in was freezing, and her jacket was gone, leaving her only in her thin white shirt and jeans.

"So you're awake." She turned her head at the voice to see a man in a black suit appear out of the shadows.

"Bishop." He stepped forward into the light.

"Yes. And you are Liara Currant, age twenty one, junior at Black Mountain University, aspiring to go into the field of wildlife conservation. You have a brother in high school, one cat, and work at a diner selling food on roller skates." She rolled her eyes.

"Anyone with computer skills could figure that out. What of it?" He leaned in closer towards her.

"That, my dear, is only the tip of the iceberg. I know everything about you from school records, medical files, your awards and trips abroad, your phases, interests, problems…." He let himself drift off. Li merely shrugged.

"I have nothing to hide." Bishop laughed.

"Everyone has something to hide. But I diverge from the topic. How are you feeling dear? I can give you something for that headache of yours." Her eyes widened slightly. _'He's good.'_ Her head had been killing her.

"You're not going to get Mikey back. They're going to save me and then kick your ass."

"I might be worried about that, if those turtles of yours were going to the right location."

"What are you talking about?"

"The turtles are currently racing towards a trap I engineered. You see my dear, I'm going to win. I have successfully completed my serum, created my army, and I'll soon have the turtle's dead bodies to dissect. And to top it all off, I have a new text subject, so graciously provided to me by you. So you see Liara Currant, I win." Not really having anything lucrative to say, yet unwilling to give up hope, Li resorted to using a well known quote.

"It ain't over till it's over."

"This isn't right!" Donny smacked another purple dragon with the end of his bo staff and continued to address his brothers as they fought through the throng. Hun had been waiting for them all right, with about thirty purple dragons.

"She's not here! It was all a trap!" Raph snarled and viciously pounded a man's nose in, blood spurting everywhere.

"So help me, if you did anything to her, I'll---" But Hun laughed.

"You'll what little turtle? Your pretty girlfriend is safer than any of you, and don't worry, once you're dead I promise to take good care of her." Raph yelled and lunged at him, swiping his sai and managing to draw a line of blood from Hun's green face. He roared.

"Enough! Finish this!" At that moment the doors to St. Mark's burst open and the turtles froze. It was unmistakable, each of these creatures had once been human. Four huge mutated forms stood in the doorway, blocking the street lights. One looked like a mix between a dog and a human, but much more distorted. Its teeth were too big for its mouth, which it couldn't close, and its hind legs were bent with the effort of standing upright. Next to it stood a grey-skinned rhinoceros, the only difference was its eyes and the fact that it stood upright and was wearing ragged red shorts. The third mutant was a cross between a warthog and a punk, the jaw had grown and extended forward, with two large tusks protruding from it. The last human mutant could have once passed for a very pretty young girl. Now she was an angry up-right walking bear with three inch claws, the only thing that remained the same were a pair of blue eyes, which were distinctly human.

"No, they were farther than I thought." Donny stood frozen, while Bishop's successful mutations stood before them.

"Well, what are you waiting for? Get them!" Their programming kicked in and they all zeroed in on the turtles.

"Operation: Retrieve turtles." The mutants moved forward, the dog mutant taking the lead. He zeroed in on Mikey and leapt at him with his teeth bared. Mikey did a back flip, kicking the mutant in the jaw, sending it reeling backwards. He landed on his feet and charged.

Donatello had his hands full fending off the human-bear. She was trying to use her teeth and claws, which were so sharp they left marks on his bo staff. Not to mention her brute strength was astounding for her height. She tried to swipe his neck, which he blocked with his staff. He was about to butt her with it when Leo flew into him from the side. He had been facing the rhinoceros, when he went to all fours and sent Leo flying across the room. Raph was having similar luck, the warthog was physically stronger than he was, not to mention surprisingly quick. Bishop had outdone himself with these guys.

The warthog kicked Raph across the room, hitting the opposite wall. The warthog grabbed his neck and pinned him against the wall. Leo charged at him with his katana, right before Leo was about to slice off his arm the warthog let go of Raph, his mask falling from his face as he slid to the ground.

"We're not going to win this." Leo threw a smoke bomb and, grabbing his brother, he vanished. Once they were safely back inside the battle shell and heading home, Raph exploded at his brother, punching him in the face.

"What da shell was that, Leo?" Leo rubbed his sore jaw.

"We weren't going to win Raph. It was dangerous for us to stay there."

"He has Li! And we just left her!"

"Wake up Raph, Li wasn't there. Bishop's probably got her somewhere else, and if we had stayed any longer he would have gotten one of us." Raphael let out a frustrated groan and punched the computer monitor on wall of the battle shell.

"Hey! Now I have to fix that."

"Sorry Don." Raph sat down, looking utterly defeated. He had failed. He had failed protecting Li, just as he had failed protecting Mikey. He had failed her and now she was in serious danger.

Piper leapt up from her seat next to April when the garage door opened and the battle shell drove in. The turtles piled out, all looking worse for wear, but Li was not among them. She went and hugged Leo and he sighed.

"It was a trap, she wasn't there. He sent out some of his mutants to try to capture us." Casey punched his hand.

"Damn that Hun! If I was there I coulda---" But April put a hand on his arm when she saw the turtles faces. Raph simply stormed past everyone and slammed the door to his room. They soon heard him hitting his wall.

"We better find her soon." Piper looked at the remaining turtles and said simply.

"You will." Leo gave her a small smile.

"We will, but first we need to figure out how to fight Bishop's mutants."

"Already ahead of you on that one bro."

"Donny?" Donny pulled a small vial from his bag.

"I took the liberty of taking a few blood samples."

"Donatello, you're a genius!" Piper squealed and raced over to Donny.

"I don't mean to brag, but yeah."

"This is perfect, I'll go set up the lab!" Mikey stared at the pair, confused about Piper's sudden excitement.

"Uh, somebody want to tell me what those two are talking about?"

"It means now that we have actually DNA samples from viable samples to work with, we can derive a cure and stop Bishop's plan."

"Oh!" Donatello sat down at his computer and clicked a few keys.

"Okay, these are possible locations that they could have Li, I have been hacking into Bishop's network and all of these buildings are on the same system. Piper, if you could put those on slides, I'll be right with you." She took the samples into the lab and he scanned through the network. "I'm going to hack into their camera footage; anyone who brought in a girl is bound to show up on here." He began going through security camera footage from the buildings. Meanwhile, Leo went to find his missing brother.

"Raph?"

"What do you want Leo?" Raph didn't pause in his assault against the punching bag.

"Everything's going to be fine Raph." Raph spun and glared daggers at his brother.

"Fine Leo? Fine!? What if Bishop mutated 'er? What if Hun gets his mitts on 'er? What if she's already dead? Is everything going ta be fine then?"

"That's not going to happen Raph. Don and Piper are already working on a cure."

"Oh great I have to trust a cure your stupid girlfriend comes up with." Leo shoved Raph.

"Don't talk about her that way! She's at least doing something. What are you doing Raph? Punching a dummy in the dark and blaming everyone else for your failure?" To Leo's surprise, Raph went limp.

"I know. It's just….I'm….scared. I know I barely know her but….I just can't let her get hurt. I have ta save her!" Leo put a hand on his shoulder.

"I know. We'll find her, I promise."

"We better bro, we better."

Li had been trying to break out of her bonds with little luck. Her wrists were raw and she felt her blood drip down the cuffs. She relaxed, panting. Nothing was working! It was okay, all she had to do was stay calm, and Raph would save her. And the others too, she reminded herself. She sighed, there was only a dim light on across the room from her, and she forced herself not to cry. She didn't even get a chance to tell him how she felt, _they_ never had a chance. But she wanted one, with him. She swore to herself she'd get out of this, one way or another.

The light grew brighter and for one brief instant she thought this was it. Hun entered the room, looking just as mutated as he did the last time she saw him. He had a sinister grin on his face and she felt a shudder go down her spine.

"Hello kitten, how are you feeling? Good I hope, not too uncomfortable?"

"Screw you."

"Oh the kitten's got her claws out. I know something you might be interested in." Li wasn't going to fall for this. He just wanted a reaction out of her. "It has to do with your freak." She struggled to stay quiet as he leaned in close to her. "Don't you want to know?" She bit her tongue. "Fine I'll tell you anyway…I killed him."

"Bull shit." She spat.

"Really? Then how'd I get this?" He held up a piece of red fabric for Li to see. It was Raph's mask.

"No."

"It's true. He's dead and no one's coming to save you kitten. You better get used to being in a cage." He dropped Raph's mask in her hand and left her alone. Li felt tears well up in her eyes, and fall down her cheeks. Now she would never get a chance to tell him how she felt.

Donatello was hunched over his microscope examining a slide, Piper was next to him, studying another tissue sample, and Mikey had surprisingly volunteered to look through the security footage and try to find a clue that could lead them to Li. Everyone in the room was silent, an unusual thing for Piper and Mikey, who believed everything was better with background noise. Each of them felt responsible for Li's current predicament. Piper was beating herself up for pushing Li and continuingly bugging her about being with Raph. She should have known to just drop it and keep her big mouth shut. If she had then they could be hanging out and pal-ing around with Mikey right now, instead she was examining mutated DNA hoping that the same fate won't befall Li's DNA.

Michelangelo on the other hand was cursing the entire course of events that had taken place over the past month. He hated himself for letting the girls get involved, he should have just left them alone in the ally, as soon as they spotted him he should have just left. He should have left their apartment in the middle of the night, and tried to find his own way home, but he didn't. He let them get involved and now Li was in a situation he was very familiar with, and had hoped no one else would ever have to experience. She was Bishop's prisoner, and this was his fault. It would have been better if he never met them. They could still be living a happy normal life.

He wasn't stupid, he knew what helping him meant, and what the girls had lost by it. They had lost the ability to ever have a normal life, and being wanted criminals meant they wouldn't be able to return to college, or get jobs, or even have people look at them the same again. He should have explained the risks to them, but he was so desperate for a safe haven that he let them get involved. He told himself he'd make it up, by protecting them, but once again he failed. Well he wouldn't fail again, he was going to find his sister and bring her home.

Several hours later saw Donny suiting up the battle shell with new artillery while Raph paced. Donny and Piper managed to formulate a serum they thought would counteract the mutagen, though to be sure, Piper was going to run a final test while the guys saved Li. Just in case they needed to use it on her. Piper lined up six vials of serum and adjusted her borrowed goggles. Hopefully, the only people to receive these doses would be the mutants already turned. Donny meanwhile, had located Li, and they were about to go after her to wage another assault.

"Hurry up!" Donny stood up.

"It's ready." Leo bowed to Master Splinter.

"We'll be back Master, Donny has located where they are holding Li." Splinter nodded.

"Be safe my sons." Piper wrapped her arms around Leo.

"Be careful." He returned the hug, kissing her passionately.

"I will." Mikey thought about making a crude remark, but his sense of humor was suffering from the situation. They jumped into the battle shell and took off, leaving Piper to perfect the serum. April and Casey ran into the room.

"Did they leave? Damn." April shook her head.

"You're staying here!" She pulled Casey to sit down at the table, Splinter following. Piper sighed and headed back into the lab.

"Good luck."

"Are you sure this is the place Don?" The turtles were on the roof of a building, looking down at an old gas station. They had parked the battle shell in an ally several blocks away and had made the last leg of their journey on foot.

"Positive. All the transmissions converge on this point."

"So you're saying they're keeping her in a gas station?" Donny shook his head.

"No, below it. Come on."

"How are we going to get in?"

"Like this." Donatello jumped down from the roof of the building and landed on a truck that was about to enter the gas station, his brothers following suit. Once the truck entered the building it began to descend, the turtles jumping off the truck and pushing open the top of the elevator, climbing out. They leapt from shadow to shadow, and eventually they all noticed the same thing.

"Nobody is stopping us." They stopped.

"This is a trap."

"Who cares, we gotta get Li now!" Leo nodded.

"We'll have to risk it." Donny took out his PDA with Li's signal.

"Straight ahead." They were quiet, not knowing what to expect. Had Bishop done something to her? Were they too late? Piper was working out the kinks of the cure in case, but would it work? They gathered around the door, silent. Leo looked at Raph, who nodded. He kicked the door in.

It was empty.

"Where is she?"

"She has to be somewhere. Keep looking." They fanned out and started searching each room.

"Where's Bishop keeping her?" Donny felt along the walls.

"Wait guys, there's something here." He pulled out a small laser from his belt and went over a small latch. A small pop was heard and a door frame appeared. "She's in here." Raph steeled himself as Donny fiddled with the latch, silently opening the door. They tensed, and Leo took the lead. The room was pitch black, until they heard a click. A small light flickered on next to a metal table, where a familiar form lay.

"Li." Raph breathed, starting forward. Her hands and feet were cuffed to the table, her wrists raw and bleeding. Her skin, usually pale, was white, like she was….he lifted a trembling hand to her cheek, to feel warmth beneath his hand. He released a breath he didn't know he was holding; she was alive. Her long hair was splayed over the table, and the t-shirt and jeans she had been wearing was ripped. The anger inside of him was overwhelming, more than he had ever felt. The sound of clapping broke him from his thoughts.

"Congratulations Raphael, you found her." Bishop emerged from the shadows, mocking the young turtle. "I must say she was more interesting than some of my other test subjects." The turtles drew their weapons, Raph standing over Li protectively.

"She wasn't even frightened, though she did scream, it was quite lovely really. Hun was particularly pleased with the sound. I wonder what the other one's screams will sound like?" Leo's grip on his katanas tightened as Bishop directed the last part to him. He didn't have time to ponder it as Raph rushed forward, enraged. Mikey and Donny backed him as they began dueling with Bishop, who seemed to be enjoying himself greatly. Leo was about to join them when the opposite doors burst open, Hun appearing in the room with the other mutants.

"Awww, have they found my kitten? Too bad, and I was so looking forward to playing with her again." Raph changed targets, and Leo joined him. Mikey and Donny were easily deterred by Bishop, who disappeared through another doorway, while all four brothers faced Hun and the mutants.

"You're gonna regret ever laying a hand on her!" Raph fought with an intensity his brothers had never seen in him before, as he laid into Hun with his sais, drawing blood. He sent him to the ground, but didn't let up. He kept hitting him, until the dog mutant hit him from the side. Mikey was trying to cover him, but the rhino mutant had just finished throwing Donny across the room, almost hitting Li on her table, and turned toward Mikey.

"Shell, guys, we need to get out of here!"

"Not again, not this time! I'm not leaving without her!" Raph sidestepped the bear mutant and sliced her with his sias.

"You should listen to your brother Raphael. You should forget the girl and save yourselves." Raph snarled and attacked Bishop, who had just reappeared.

"Not gonna happen Bishop. I'm gonna kick your ass and save hers." He spun in the air and kicked Bishop in the face. He stumbled backwards and hit the table Li was on. He wiped the blood from his lip and smirked.

"Too late." He pulled a syringe gun from his jacket; stabbing Li in the neck and injecting the contents into her body.


	15. And the Pieces Came Falling Down

A/N: Thanks to Mikell and wonderwomanbatmanfan for your reviews. We're almost at the end, and everyone's reviews really helped us push through any writers block. So thanks to everyone.

And The Pieces Came Falling Down

Piper was leaning over a microscope examining a Petri dish of mutated cells, she carefully administered the antidote Donny and she created and watched the reaction. It only partially cured the mutation. She cursed under her breath. The guys were depending on this, Li was depending on this. She knew without being told Bishop would try to mutate Li, and her she was stuck at a stupid roadblock. She was only getting this half right, and it was pissing her off.

"May I examine it?"

"AH!" Piper screamed bloody murder and flared her arms. She swiveled around and started cussing before she knew what she was doing. "Damn it don't sneak up on me! I'm skittish enough as is!" She heard a growling and finally noticed who she was yelling at, a giant alligator posed for attack and glaring at her with a murderous look in his eyes. She screamed again. Splinter, hearing her screams entered the lab and observed what was happening and quickly acted.

"Leatherhead my friend, please forgive Miss Jones, she did not mean anything." Leatherhead's pupils returned to normal and calmly stood up.

"My apologies Miss Jones I did not mean to frighten you." Piper calmed down and gave the gator a shaky smile.

"Uh no problem I didn't mean to scream, you just startled me, automatic response and all."

"Miss Jones this is Leatherhead, he is a friend of my family."

"Nice to meet you?" She was still uneasy around the twelve foot gator, five foot turtles she could handle, giant alligators that just tried to eat her were another matter.

"A pleasure, Donatello told me all about you, and the project the two of you have been working on. I have come to offer my assistance." Piper smiled.

"Assistance is good."

Donny and the others watched in horror as Bishop injected Li with the mutagen. Her eyes snapped open, and her pupils dilated, then shrunk to pinpoints. They then lengthened and grew into thin ovals, her irises turning acid green. She started screaming and struggling against her chains, her teeth and nails lengthening into points. When he looked at her eyes again he realized she had been injected with feline DNA. Bishop laughed as Raph ran to her side.

"No!" He stared helplessly as she screamed and thrashed, the mutagen like liquid fire in her veins.

"Yes, now there's no way to save her."

"Yeah, maybe if Don and I weren't so freaking awesome." Everyone turned to the sound of Piper's voice. She stood behind Splinter, April and Leatherhead.

"Piper?"

"Hello." She waved and held up six vials of orange liquid. "Guess who figured out how to beat you? That's right this girl…well okay this girl and that turtle, and that gator." She pointed at Donny and Leatherhead. There was a pause as everyone registered their presence, until chaos broke out again. Bishop made a hand signal and the mutants attacked again. Unfortunately for them, this made Leatherhead angry. He roared and charged they, taking out two of them at once and starting after the third. April took out her weapons and leapt forward, intent on focusing on the other two, who Mikey and Leo were facing off against. Splinter grabbed Piper's elbow and guided her to the table Li lay on. Piper blanched.

"Damn, Li you have got to stop getting yourself kidnapped." Splinter attempted to hold down Li while Piper got her cure ready. "Hold on." Before Piper got a chance to inject Li, Splinter was thrown away from Li, and Hun charged at Piper.

"Give me that cure!" Piper panicked and threw her arms in the air, the injection gun slipping from her hand.

"Oh crap." She turned and faced Hun. "That was so your fault Bowser." Leo caught the gun and quickly injected the mutant hog he was facing. His features slowly started changing and the figure of a young dark skinned male was left. His eyes rolled to the back of his head, and with a groan he hit the floor, unconscious.

"Oh good it actually works." Hun charged at Piper again, trying to get the rest of the vials she held. She screamed and tried to run away.

"Get away from her!" Leo left his fight with the mutant and flew at Hun, kicking him in the face. Leo grabbed the rest of the vials from Piper.

"Stay here. Hey guys!" He threw the other needles to his brothers, who made quick work and injected the mutants they were fighting. The hulking figures shrunk down back to their human forms, all of them falling unconscious. Li's screams had Raph running for her again. He looked over at Piper, who was clutching the vial, her eyes on Leo.

"Hurry up!" He yelled at her. She snapped out of her stupor and fumbled with the needle, trying to insert the vial into the gun, but it was too late. Li's eyes snapped open and she broke straight through the metal cuffs and leapt off the table. Her legs cracked as her bones tried to rearrange themselves, and her nails grew into long sharp claws, her eyes an acid green, her slitted pupils barely visible. She kept screaming in agony as she bolted. She leapt from the table and jumped across the room off Mikey's head, intent on getting through the door.

"Li!" But she was fast, and the turtles weren't fast enough. But Splinter was. He grabbed her by the arm and spun her around, throwing her back into the crowd. She landed on her feet and hissed at him. She charged again, but Raph blocked her way. Li paused.

"Come on babe, it's me. Don't let Bishop win, we can help you. I can help you." She stared at him, her pupils widening back into a normal size. She stood up from her crouched position and looked like she might go to Raph, when Hun and Mikey's battle interrupted them, Hun being thrown by Mikey into the wall next to her. She jumped and snarled, her eyes reverting back into slits. She threw Raph into the wall next to Hun and took a giant leapt toward the door, when Leatherhead appeared in front of the door and grabbed her, pinning her arms to her side.

"Donatello! The needle!" Donny grabbed the needle from Piper's hands and threw it to Leatherhead, who struggled with the thrashing Li.

"Hold still Miss Currant, we are going to help you." Leatherhead held Li in one arm and with the other her injected Li in the neck with the cure. Her thrashing immediately ceased and she slumped in his arms, unconscious. Raph was by her side in an instant.

"Is she alright?"

"The mutation is retracting, she will be fine." Raph gave a sigh of relief.

"LH, can you get her out of here and back to the lair?" He nodded and hoisted Li over his shoulder. "Take Piper too, Fearless is gonna want to make sure she's safe too."

"Yes, of course." Leatherhead grabbed Piper and tossed her on his other shoulder.

"HEY! What the heck?"

"Forgive me Miss Jones, but we will travel faster this way."

"Master Splinter, can you take the others with you and follow Leatherhead? You too April."

"Yes, my son." Leatherhead, Splinter and April quickly left the room, carrying the reverted mutants, both Raph and Leo relaxed when the girls were out of sight. They glared at Hun, who glared back. He wanted that cure. He moved to follow them, both brothers blocking his way.

"Not gonna happen Hun." Hun growled and attacked.

"I'm getting that cure, that girl had one left."

"And you're not gettin' it." Both brothers charged at him and fly kicked him in the chest at the same time. He reeled backwards, and was attacked again by Mikey and Donny, who had finished curing the mutants. He was encircled by the turtles.

"That doesn't matter! Once I get Bishop's cure I'll use my Purple Dragons and we'll hunt them down and kill you freaks!"

"Bishop doesn't have a cure Hun, he never did." Hun glared at the turtle addressing him and charged. Donny jumped out of the way and landed behind him.

"You're lying! He turned me back once already!"

"What you were injected with was a trick. Bishop created it to control you. It was never supposed to be permanent; it was just to keep you coming back, so he could continue to control the Purple Dragons. He was never going to cure you." Hun's attacks became more erratic and harried, Donny was able to easily dodge them all and continue his explanation.

"When Raph told me you were back, I thought that Bishop might really have a cure, but then I got a good look at you and your cellar make up. That's when I knew what Bishop was really up to. He was going to use your mutation to mutate the purple dragons and use them as his super soldiers. They were all the right age, and have proven to be loyal to you, and they never knew why they were collecting humans. They would have no idea what would happen if you told them to take a 'shot' Bishop was giving. And you would have had to, in order to gain a 'cure'."

"It was never Mikey's DNA Bishop was after, it was yours. Mikey was just a ploy, to make you think Bishop wasn't using you. All Bishop used Mikey's DNA for was to keep you mutated. The cure you were given had trace amounts of the mutagen found in Mikey's blood, after an allotted time it would spread through your body and mutate you all over again. Bishop was never going to cure you. He was using you."

"You're lying!"

"Why don't you ask Bishop then?" Hun frantically searched the room for any sign of Bishop, only to see him gone.

"NO!" Hun charged past the turtles, knocking them down, and plowed through the door, intent on finding Bishop and exacting his revenge. Leo and the others stood up.

"Come on, we have to stop him."

"Why not just let 'em destroy each other?"

"What if he gets street level Raph? He's gone berserk, innocent people could get hurt." Raph grumbled under his breath as he and his brothers followed the wave of destruction Hun left in his path. They followed him to the roof, where a helicopter was just touching down, Bishop standing below it. It was obvious he was trying to make a getaway before things got too hairy, but he didn't count on Hun. He heard the roar before he knew he was there.

"Bishop!" He snapped off a pipe from the side of the building and threw it straight at the propellers.

"You fool, what are you doing!?" Bishop ducked as the helicopter went out of control after the pipe hit the propellers. It struggled to gain control and flew up to gain altitude.

"You lied to me, now I'm gonna to make you pay!" Hun charged Bishop, who flipped out of the way. The wind came up and whipped around them as they battled on the rooftop. Hun charged at Bishop, who somersaulted out of the way and kicked Hun in the back. He staggered to his feet, turned, and punched Bishop in the jaw. Bishop flipped and kicked Hun after regaining his balance. Hun screamed angrily into the night as Bishop dodged another one of his blows.

"I'll kill you!"

"What do we do?" Leo shook his head.

"I'm not sure, we have to make sure they don't hurt anyone." Suddenly the wind got much stronger as the helicopter swooped down again, its back propeller on fire.

"Look out!" The turtles jumped over to the next building as the copter came straight down on the roof where they had just been standing. They heard a roar, and then nothing except an explosion when the copter came down and the fire ignited the fuel tank. They ducked as a resounding crash sent shrapnel flying. The roof of the building had collapsed, taking several of the upper floors with it. There was no sign of Bishop or Hun.

"Leo, that thing came down right on top of them!" Donny whispered in shock. Leo closed his eyes.

"I know. There's nothing more we can do here. Bishop's lab is destroyed and it looks like he and Hun died in the explosion." Leo watched the blaze. "Let's go home."

Li felt like her eyes had sandbags on them, her limbs were stiff and hard to move. She tried opening her eyes. Her entire body was heavy. She felt sticky and clammy, she could feel her hair plastered to her forehead and her first conscious thought was about how she needed a shower and hoped her brother hadn't taken all the hot water. No, that wasn't right she didn't live with her brother anymore. Then who was she worried about taking the hot water? Someone was and unless she beat them there she'd have a cold shower, and she didn't want that. She tried opening her eyes and getting off the bed. She groaned and realized she couldn't move. Now how was she going to take a hot shower? She heard voices and worried about a line forming to the bathroom.

"Oh I think she's awake!"

"Piper you've been sayin' dat for two days, knock it off."

"You know it's a wonder Li can put up with you. You're just so grumpy and negative. You're a negative nanny."

"Piper…shut… up."

"Ah! I told you she was up!" Li slowly pried her eyes open and saw Piper leaning over her.

"Good morning sunshine the earth says hello." Li tried to move her arm to push Piper away but found she didn't have the energy. Actually, just talking had made her tired. Suddenly, Piper's face was replaced by Donny's.

"How many fingers am I holding up?" She glared at him. "Uhhh, right, can you move your eyes from side to side for me?" She did and he smiled. "Your pupils are back to normal, now how do you feel."

"Tired." Donny grabbed a notepad.

"Uhh huh, anything else? Any aches or pains?"

"You're not my doctor. Where am I?" He blinked in surprise.

"You're in the lab. Do you remember anything?" She closed her eyes. She remembered, a cold room, and….

"Oh!" She eyes shot open. "Donny, are we in your lab? Is everyone okay? Is----" But the words died in her throat when she remembered what Hun had told her.

"Raph's right here." Li was surprised she had the energy to blush as she looked to her side and saw Raph sitting on a chair next to her bedside and smirking at her.

"He wouldn't leave either; Mikey and Leo had to physically drag him out of the lab when they went to double check Bishop's lab. And then he raced back in and has been by your side for two days straight." Li didn't know who Piper was trying to embarrass more, her or Raph, but either way she could tell she was having fun at their expense. "And then he was all 'I ain't gonna leave till I knew she's okay.' In his tough Raph guy voice, and he stayed by your bedside and held your hand—" Donny quickly muzzled Piper before his brother got a chance to kill her.

"We'll just be outside. I'll be back in a bit to see how you're doing Li." He dragged Piper, who was still trying to tell her story, out of the lab. Li decided to tell him the truth.

"I was worried because when I was…there…Hun said he did you in." She tried to sound casual, but failed. He leaned forward.

"Take a lot more then dat moron ta 'do me in' babe." She blushed.

"Well, it's not like I knew any better, he was there and you weren't." He understood.

"So you thought dat since he was there, he musta won. You were…worried about me." He said it in a tone that made her think that that didn't happen very often.

"Yeah, I was." She looked him in the eye, and was trapped by his gaze.

"Well babe I'll tell you a secret, I was worried 'bout you too." Li blushed and tried to sit up, Raph placed his hands on either side of her, one on her back and one on her chest just under her bust. Her breath hitched as he helped her sit up. His hands remained in their place as he leaned in, he was inches away from her face. He continued speaking. "Hun was sayin' these tings and I swear to shell I was gonna kill 'im. I thought I mighta lost you, before I even had ya." Li's face grew hot and Raph sealed the gap between them. It was nothing like what she expected a kiss with Raph to be like. It was slow and gentle and it felt like he was pouring his heart out to her in a single kiss. She kissed him back and regretted not doing this sooner. He pulled away from her and laid her back down.

"Go back ta sleep before ya pass out. I'll be here when ya wake up."

Piper smiled as she and Donny peered around the corner and into the lab.

"Finally, god that took long enough."

"I can't believe you convinced me to spy on my brother as he was pouring his heart out."

"Oh please I have deeper confessions of love when I make coffee in the morning… Buuuut it _was_ just right for those two." Piper smiled again and grabbed Donny's hand. "Come on let's go tell everyone Li's up." She dragged him into the living room, and proudly announced to the Hamato family that Li was up and conscious, but had promptly fallen asleep again, and they all missed their chance. She grabbed Leo and plopped down on the couch next to Mikey.

"Well team what now? I suppose a victory celebration is in order. Mikey can make the cake and I'll get the balloons. Don, you got a helium tank?" She nudged Leo. "You can do streamers. Master Splinter could you write the invitations? You have the nicest handwriting." Leo shook his head, questioning his girlfriend.

"Who would you invite?"

"Well Casey and April, Leatherhead, and there's us, we'll each need an invitation so that we'll know what time the party is, oh and Raph and Li both need one." They stared at her.

"Well? Chop chop people, this party won't throw itself." Mikey, who was pouting because he missed seeing Li, jumped up.

"One cake coming right up!" She looked expectantly at Donny.

"Uhhh, I don't have a helium tank." She sighed.

"Way to go Donny, there goes the party." Silence reigned as they listened to Mikey drop a bowl on his foot in the kitchen before Leo got up.

"I'll be in the dojo." Piper blinked in confusion as he left the room.

"Was it something I said?"

"No my child, but now that Miss Currant is on the road to recovery, you will soon be leaving us." Piper blinked in shock.

"Oh, yeah I guess." Truth be told, she hadn't thought about leaving. At all. But now that everything was wrapping up, there would be no reason for them to stay there any longer. They could go home, and she wasn't entirely sure how she felt about that. She didn't want to leave Leo, he was the best thing that ever happened to her, heck all the turtles were the best things that ever happened to her. She got up and followed him into the dojo. She rapped quietly on the door frame.

"Leo?" He didn't acknowledge her, and kept practicing his katas. "Are you mad at me?" He continued to ignore her. "Look I know I messed up at the battle. I froze and I almost lost the antidote. It almost cost us everything. I almost doomed Li because of my stupidity, but I'm sorry. Leo, I'm sorry." He remained silent, while moving through his katas, it was like her didn't hear her at all. And that was starting to piss Piper off. "I'm not a warrior Da Vinci! I'm not a ninja and I messed up and you're ashamed of me because I'm a crappy student and a stupid liability. Well you can at least have the guts to say it to my face!" Piper felt tears form, but she refused to let them fall. She didn't cry over boys, not anymore, and Leo was no exception. She started to leave the dojo but Leo's voice stopped her.

"You're wrong. I'm not ashamed of you. You entered a battle bravely, with the intent of saving your friend. You acted honorably, I could not be prouder of you as a student or as my…" He trailed off and Piper didn't take that as a good sign. "I am ashamed of myself."

"Why? What do you have to be ashamed of?"

"Because as soon as Li is well you'll leave! You'll go back to your home and start school again, and be with your family and get a degree and…" He trailed off. Piper thought of the things that his silence could mean.

"Leo?"

"And I don't want you to! I want you to stay here, I want you to stay with me, and I'm ashamed of myself for wanting you to give up your life so that we can be together."

"Why can't I have both?" The both stopped and looked at each other. Piper stepped closer to him. "Why can't we still be together and why can't I still go to college and follow my dreams?"

"You told me about your plans to move and attend study at Columbia, and I can't let you give up your life for me."

"And I wouldn't. I just want you to be a part of my life. Dream schools come and go Da Vinci. Who's to say NYU isn't my new dream school? Who says I can't study genetics at any old university? Why are you deciding things for me? I'm perfectly capable of deciding myself, but I need you to tell me one thing. Do you want to be with me?" Leo stared at her surprised.

"Of course I do. Didn't I just make that clear?" Piper shrugged.

"Well I want to be with you too, so what's the big deal?" He sighed and turned away from her.

"I just, I don't know." She turned him around and stared up into his eyes.

"There's such a thing as a long-distance relationship you know. When I'm done with my degree, I'll come back to New York. I can find a job here, and we can still be together. I'm not giving you up." He was surprised by her intensity, but reassured as well. "Let's enjoy the time we have together now, and think of that later, alright?" Leo smiled.

"Alright." Piper stood on her toes and kissed Leo, then smiled and grabbed his hand.

"Come on, if you're gonna dump me in a few weeks, then you're gonna take me on a date first." Leo smiled and happily allowed Piper to drag him from the dojo.

That night before dinner, Li awoke for the second time. She had smelled the pizza in the kitchen and realized she hadn't eaten for three days. She had been in Bishop's clutches for close to twenty four hours, then unconscious for the two days she was back at the lair. Not to mention she was thirsty.

"Raph, can we go in the kitchen?" He smiled at her.

"Sure." She tried to sit up, but he merely moved her covers aside and went to pick her up. She blinked in surprise.

"My legs." Both of her legs were in splints, and she was unable to move them. Raph put one arm carefully under her thighs, and the other wrapped around her back, as he carefully lifted her up. She expected pain when her legs moved, but there was nothing. She wrapped her arms around his neck as he carried her to the kitchen.

"What happened to my legs?"

"They broke when you was in the lab…your body was changin' cause a dat mutagen Bishop injected ya with. Don had ta splint 'em so they'd reform right."

"Oh." They were silent until they reached the kitchen and Raph set her down. She swayed and he quickly sat down next to her and steadied her.

"I'm alright. Give me food now." Piper sat down across from her.

"Well somebody's back to normal."

"I'm thirsty too." Donny, Leo, and Master Splinter joined them at the table and Mikey quickly put some water in front of Li and finished cutting the pizza.

"Hey, how are you feeling?" Donny sat down on her other side and promptly began examining her again, picking up her hand and examining her finger nails and checking her pupils. Raph glared at him and he backed down slightly. "Any other changes?"

"No." She didn't say anything else and Leo cleared his throat. Mikey passed out the pizza and they waited until Master Splinter started before starting themselves. It was clear Li didn't want to talk to anyone, and everyone save Raph looked at each other. Piper shrugged and bit into her pizza. What did they expect? Li was just mutated she wasn't going to feel like talking. Plus, Donny should have learned not to bother Li when she was eating.

Raph hung around Li, his arm slung over her shoulders. To everyone else it seemed like a simple gesture, but Li and Raph both knew that his arm was around her to keep her from falling over. Raph could feel the heat radiating off her body. She seemed too hot and he made a note to tell Don later. After dinner he carried her to the couch and Mikey sat down next to her, chatting happily. Seeing she was occupied, Raph followed Donny to his lab.

"She's really hot, and she don't remember anything when she was mutated." Donny sighed.

"Yeah, I figured as much. She remembers everything else though." Raph clenched his fists. They had found burns on the insides of her arms and Donny had deduced they had probably tortured her for information, though they didn't know for sure, considering she wouldn't say anything.

"I was going to re-bandage her arms before she went back to sleep, could you bring her back here?" Raph turned and went back into the living room, only to see Li already fast asleep against Mikey's shoulder. He looked up at his brother.

"Do you want me to take her to my room?" Raph shook his head.

"I got her." He carefully untangled her from his younger brother and gently lifted her off the couch. She didn't stir. He carried her back to Mikey's room and laid her down before tucking her in. He stared at her pale face for a moment, before running his thumb over her cheek. He slowly left the room and closed the door quietly behind him. As he walked back into the living room, he heard Piper yell something about a movie before she and Leo left, Leo in his human disguise. He shook his head and popped his head back into Donny's lab.

"She fell asleep, you'll hafta wait till tomorrow."

Piper sat at the edge of Mikey's bed, playing cards with Li, whose legs were still broken. They had had quite the time figuring out how she could shower, and ended up tying plastic bags around her legs and putting a chair in their for her.

"Hit me." Piper looked at her cards. Twenty-three.

"Bust." Li grabbed the cards and shuffled the deck again. It had been a week since she woke up, she was recovering slowly, and still had an abnormally high temperature Donny could not explain. She started dealing the cards, as Piper chatted uselessly.

"Do you know what I realized the other day?"

"No."

"I am the only person in this household who could not join the X-Men." Li tried to ignore her friend, she still wasn't feeling like herself. "You and the guys and Master Splinter have all been mutated; you could join the X-Men and fight with Wolverine."

"I would kick Rouge's ass." Piper smiled, finally she saw some glimmer of the old Li.

"But if you touched her ass, she would absorb your powers."

"Not if I'm wearing shoes. Dealer wins."

"Ah." Piper collected the cards and took her turn as dealer when Mikey walked in. "Hey Mike wanna play Black Jack?"

"Sure." Piper dealt him in as he took a cautious seat next to Li.

"So how much you in for?"

"You're actually betting?"

"Oh yeah, I already owe Li my life savings."

"Piper can't count." Mikey snorted in laughter and both girls joined in. They laughed harder and harder for no reason other than to laugh. Piper dealt another round and the jokes and laughter continued. Mikey fell on his shell from laughter and his arm hitting Li's leg. She gasped in pain, and everyone instantly sobered. Mikey looked panicked.

"I'm sorry!" Li shrugged it off.

"It's okay Mikey no harm done." Mikey stayed silent and withdrawn. Both girls observed him, concerned.

"Mikey?"

"I'm sorry."

"Mikey its okay. It didn't really even hurt."

"No that's not what I meant. I'm sorry!" Both girls were confused and didn't know what to say.

"What are you talking about? Why are you sorry? You have nothing to be sorry about." Mikey erupted.

"Yes I do! I got the two of you involved in this! Li got kidnapped and mutated because of me! You almost died and it's my fault." Mikey bit back a sob. Li rested her hand on his leg.

"Michelangelo." Mikey looked up, none of the girls had ever used his real name. "It's not your fault and I don't blame you."

"But if you hadn't helped me than the two of you would still have your old lives. I heard what you said, about being sick of being here, and wanting to go back to college and getting you lives back." Both girls looked ashamed, no one was supposed to hear that. Piper reached over and hugged Mikey.

"You're an idiot."

"What?"

"You're an idiot Mikey. Do you realize how much you've given us? This has been the greatest adventure ever! I freaking love it here! I love you and your brothers and Master Splinter and April and Casey, and even Leatherhead, though I still think he might eat me. You're an idiot if you think I regret any of this!" She let go of her hug, and then hugged him again, tighter this time. "Li get over here its hug Mikey time!" Li didn't move.

"Errr, sorry."

"You can't change the past, so it's useless to regret it." Mikey and Piper pulled away from their hug. "I don't." Mikey looked at Piper uncertainly, who shrugged. "I would like to go to the kitchen now please." Mikey lifted her up and carried her into the kitchen, leaving Piper on the bed with the cards.

"So much for progress." She sighed and put the cards away. Mikey set Li down on a chair at the kitchen table, Master Splinter was busy making a pot of tea on the stove. Just then, Leo came into the room.

"Mikey! I've been looking for you, come on, we have to train. Raph and Donny are already in the dojo." Mikey sighed.

"Okay." He sang and followed Leo into the dojo, leaving Li in the kitchen with Master Splinter. Master Splinter sat down at the table and poured two cups of tea.

"Often, I find that a good cup of tea is the best way to relax and let your troubles flow away." She accepted the green tea and stared into the steaming cup as Splinter took a sip of his tea.

"Thank you." Li clasped her tea in her hands, but did not drink it.

"Miss Jones has been telling me about the Sex and the City sequel, I am most looking forward to it." Li made a noncommittal sound and stared into her tea. Splinter put his cup down and fixed her with an even stare.

"Miss Currant, anger and sorrow are emotions that cloud the heart and mind. I would hate to see someone my son is so fond of consumed by darkness." Li glanced up from her tea and caught Master Splinter's gaze. "Do not let Bishop win. Do not let him take anything else from you." Li looked away.

"He didn't take anything from me. I didn't let him." Splinter put a furred paw on her hand.

"But if you let what happened dictate your actions, he will. You must move past what happened, and find your inner strength. Only then can you truly defeat him and correct his transgressions against you." Li smiled slightly.

"Will you help me?"


	16. Everything Must Come to an End

A/N: Thank you to everyone who reviewed this fic, we hope you enjoyed the ride! Please tell us how you liked it, we appreciated all the support!

Everything Must Come to an End

Li cleared her mind, breathing in and out, practicing the mediation techniques Master Splinter had been teaching her. She'd been struggling with the repercussions of what Bishop had done to her for over two weeks and had, with Splinter's help, been taking steps to start healing. He had been guiding her through different meditation techniques for the past two weeks and she was feeling a lot better because of it.

"Uh, Sensei, do you mind if I interrupt you guys?" Li jumped when Donny slid open the door where she and Splinter had been meditating.

"What is it my son?"

"It's time to take off Li's splints." He looked over at her. "Are you ready?" She nodded and waited while he came over and picked her up.

"Very well, we will resume tomorrow." Don carried Li into his lab and set her down at the examination table.

"Okay, I'm going to remove your splints because you healed so quickly, but you're going to have to be careful and use crutches for a bit." Li nodded. Anything was better than being carried everywhere. He set about taking off her splints and Li's attention was caught by the test tubes with her name on them.

"Did you find anything else?" Donny turned toward the source of her attention and nodded.

"Well, you know our 'cure' isn't exactly a cure, I mean, once the mutagen mutated the DNA, on such short notice we couldn't eradicate it without damaging the DNA strand, what we did instead was contain it so that the mutagen was isolated in one strand, unable to affect you physically. Basically the mutagen is still inside of you, it just won't affect you anymore. But don't worry, the symptoms will fade with time."

"Symptoms. More than one. I thought I just had a high temperature and that was it." Donny rubbed the back of his head.

"Well that's the only one I've been able to detect so far, but your body may have other changes that you haven't noticed, because you haven't been on your feet in so long."

"Like?"

"Uh…well you were infected with feline DNA so heightened balance and agility aren't outside the realm of possibilities."

"Great." Just what she needed, side effects from being mutated. He finished and Li swung her legs up and down. She paused when the feeling of pins and needles started plaguing her.

"They fell asleep." She stated in annoyance.

"Your circulation is bad from not using them in so long, here." He sat down next to her and started rubbing the feeling back into her legs.

"Do you know about the other people that were mutated?" Donny paused and regarded Li for a second before beginning his ministrations again.

"Theoretically their symptoms will last longer than yours because of the length of their mutations. But I don't know for sure. Checking on them is hard to do after they're in hospital custody."

Li didn't say anything as Donny continued massaging her legs. He finished and swapped legs. Her legs were dry and flaking.

"Next time you'll have to use lotion."

"Oil would be better." Raph came to stop outside the door. He had been going to the kitchen to grab something to eat before checking on Li when he heard Donny and Li's voices from his lab. They were talking about lotion, and…..oil? His mind started working through the possible reasons they could be talking about lotion and oil. Motor oil, but why would Li think lotion would be needed? Li knew more about cars than that. He heard her gasp.

"That felt good."

"Oh, let me try to do it again." A click was heard as Raph's brain went into overdrive. Li and Donny looked up in surprise when the door slammed open to reveal an angry Raph. Not actually registering that Donny was in fact massaging her legs and not other parts of her, he shoved him to the side, threw Li over his shoulder and left the lab, leaving his brother alone and confused.

"What just happened?" Li blinked in confusion as she was suddenly hanging upside down and being moved through the lair. Raph stalked into his room, slammed the door, and Li found herself right-side up again as she found herself suddenly half lying sideways on a hammock, Raph's hands gripping it to keep it in place on either side of her.

"What were yah tinking? Da yah know what kinda ideas you're puttin' in his head? What did he tell yah? Yah can't trust dat turtle he's a pervert!" Li blinked innocently.

"The circulation in my legs is bad cause of the splints, and he was helping me so I could walk."

"If your legs need rubbin' I'll be da one doin' it." She just stared at him. He leaned in and kissed her.

"Now come on, let's get ya back on your feet." He grabbed her arm and hoisted her to the floor, leading her away to the living room.

Piper had just come back from wash duty at April's carrying a basket of her and Li's clothes when Mikey almost ran her over on his skateboard.

"Sorry babe, gotta run!" He disappeared down the tunnel and she turned and walked into her and Li's room and began separating their clothes and folding them on the bed. She started when a familiar pair of green arms wrapped around her from behind.

"I thought you were supposed to be gone all day." Leo buried his face in her hair.

"I missed you." She straightened and put down the shirt she had been folding.

"I'm not leaving yet." She felt him smile against the back of her neck.

"I know." She resumed folding the remaining clothes and he loosened his hold slightly so he wouldn't restrict her.

"Master Splinter is making sushi tonight, but we could go somewhere afterward."

"Oh, like where?" She knew he wanted her to choose so she purposefully didn't answer. She like it when he picked where they went on their dates, he tried so hard to make her smile and have a good time that she couldn't help but want Leo to decide.

"Where ever you want to."

"That's a tempting offer. How do you know I won't pick some place awful?"

"Cause I'll tell you. I know, just surprise me." He raised an eyebrow as she turned around to face him.

"Are you sure?" She nodded and pecked him on the lips.

"I'm sure." She turned around and finished folding the clothes on the bed, setting the basket on the floor. She turned around to see Leo smiling fondly at her.

"What?" He headed for the door, still smiling.

"Nothing." He headed toward the tunnel his brother disappeared through and quickly found him, practicing a new trick on his skateboard.

"Hey bro."

"Mikey, I need your help again."

Later that night saw everyone at the dinner table sans Piper and Leo, who had left on the sewer slider with Master Splinter's permission.

"So Da Vinci, where we going?"

"I can't tell you, it would ruin the surprise." She rolled her eyes as the sewer sled glided into the Hudson. Well, at least they weren't staying in the sewer. She smiled as she took in the lights from the Big Apple and the expanse of the Bay ahead of them. She watched Leo's back as he directed the boat, the strong set of his shoulders, illuminated by the city lights. She grabbed his hand and held it tight. She didn't want to go back home, the past five weeks had been some of the best of her life. She hated knowing she would have to leave soon.

"Are we going on a romantic sewer slider ride?"

"Can't tell you." She nodded.

"We're going on a romantic sewer slider ride." He smiled and said nothing.

"Ow, I stubbed my toe." Currently, everyone was watching Li attempt to walk. Mikey had moved the couch out of the way and was enthusiastically pulling her around the room, Donny giving support. Raph had been working his punching bag but was getting annoyed as he noticed Li wasn't improving.

"Cut it out Mikey, can't you see she's tired?" Splinter came into the living room carrying a tea tray and set it on the table that was next to the couch.

"Come sit and rest. You will not be able to walk in one night." Li collapsed onto the couch with Donny's support and sighed.

"I know. I'm just sick of being carted everywhere." Mikey came up behind her and grinned as he wrapped his arms around her shoulders.

"Don't worry babe. I don't mind carrying you." He wiggled his eye ridges. "In fact, I kinda like it." Raph stood behind Mikey glaring. He hit him on the head, and pulled him away from Li.

"Ow! What was that for?" Mikey held his head and glared at his brother.

"What do you think shell for brains?" He sat down next to Li, and switched the channel to a wrestling match. She had to bite her lip to keep from smiling. He'd be mad if she said it out loud, but Raph was _so_ cute when he was being protective. She gave Mikey an apologetic look and tried not to cringe as two sweaty men grappled with one another. If only he had better taste in TV shows……

"Go Leo, you can do it!" Piper cheered Leo on as he tried to win her a prize. He had taken her to a sea side carnival. At first she thought they were just going to watch the lights from the sewer slider, but then he hid the slider under a dock and took her to shore. She didn't know if it was a good idea, but once ashore no one looked twice at them.

He was currently attempting to win her a prize at a carnival game, but was having trouble. Something Piper secretly found very amusing. Leo threw another ball, attempting to knock over the milk jugs. He failed.

"Tough luck sport." The carney recollected the balls and offered one to Leo. "Want to try again? It'd be a shame if this pretty little lady didn't get a prize." He tried once more, hitting the milk jugs right in the center. They didn't fall. Piper pointed at the man accusingly.

"Shenanigans!" The carney started quickly collecting Leo's money and began putting his things away.

"I don't know what you're talking about Missy." Piper slammed her hand on the money.

"This game's rigged. I call shenanigans."

"Just cause your beau here lost is no reason to start causin' a scene."

"The heck it ain't, I'm calling shenanigans. So do you want to do something about this or should I start talking louder?" The carney tried shushing Piper.

"Keep it down. Here." He pulled down a stuffed panda from his stand and shoved it in Piper's arms. She turned around and proudly smiled at Leo.

"Here Da Vinci, I won you a prize." She held the panda out to Leo, waiting for him to take it. Leo took it hesitantly.

"Aren't I supposed to win _you_ the prize?" Piper waved her hand dismissively and took his arm as they continued perusing the stands from the shadows. His disguise wasn't good enough to be seen by too many people. Though he knew she meant well, he couldn't help but feel slightly emasculated. The guy was supposed to win the girl the toy, not the other way around.

"Sooo Da Vinci, whatcha gonna name your teddy bear?"

"Uh…"

"Leo, you have to name the panda. It'll be sad if you don't." Okay, now she wanted him to name the toy? This was just a little too girly.

"Uhh, you name it."

"Okay!" She smiled and took the bear from Leo, hugging it close to her chest, she walked backwards facing Leo. "Wanna ride the Ferris wheel? Ow." Piper stumbled as she ran into a funnel cake stand. "Funnel cakes, I love funnel cakes! Just a sec." She ran to the front of the stand and ordered a funnel cake. She stood waiting while they made it and examined the panda, cooing to it loudly. People stared while they walked by and stared as the small brunette talked to the stuffed animal.

"Oh what should I name you? Da Vinci wanted nothing to do with it. Gosh he's so lame sometimes. Oh I've got it, Sexual Harassment Panda!" The employee handed her the funnel cake and she skipped back over to Leo, who for some reason was trying to hide behind his hands. "Here you go Da Vinci! And guess what I named your teddy bear. He is now Petey the Sexual Harassment Panda!" Leo stared blankly at her.

"Sexual Harassment Panda?" Piper nodded and took a bite of the funnel cake.

"Yeah haven't you ever seen that episode of South Park? Sexual Harassment Panda!"

"Huh."

"It's a funny show. But I don't think you would like it, let's go on the Ferris wheel now." They got in line and Leo pulled his hat down over his head. They entered the glass encased pod and began their slow ascent, stopping frequently when other riders entered their own pods. Petey the Sexual Harassment Panda lay forgotten on the seat as Piper all but plastered herself to the glass to see the lights.

"It's beautiful." She breathed and he scooted closer to her. He watched her watch the lights of the city and smiled softly. If someone had told him two months ago he would fall for someone like her he would have laughed in their face. But here he was. He liked that she was quirky and unusual. He like that she brought a different perspective and view of the world that he would never have imagined. And when she smiled at him he wished he could stop time and live in that moment forever. It was like those smiles were just for him. He wrapped his hand around hers. Piper looked away from the window and smiled at Leo. And he couldn't help but smile back.

"Wake up." Li nudged Mikey with her foot, but his snoring continued. They had brought out the junk food when Wheel of Fortune came on and Mikey ate three-fourths of it, falling into a food coma after Jeopardy. Li sighed and gave up. Mikey was three sheets to the junk food wind. She grabbed her crutches and got off the couch, only to feel herself lifted off the ground, her crutches falling onto Mikey, who snorted but didn't wake. She was pulled against Raph's plastron as he carried her out of the room.

"You don't have to carry me." She argued, but he just grunted and shifted her weight, bringing her closer to him. He carried her into Mikey's room and set her on the bottom bunk, before going back to get her crutches. She bit her lip, the heated feeling she often got around Raph intensifying. Everyone was either sleeping or out, and Raph was walking back into the room with a fiery look in his eyes. She felt herself flush from the look he was giving her. He advanced on her and placed both arms on either side of her, effectively trapping her to the bed.

"Raph?"

"Shhh." He leaned in to kiss her, but she pushed on his arms and tried to stand up. She managed wobbly and he moved back and held her arms. They stood face to face and she opened her mouth to address their growing relationship when his mouth met hers. The kiss was slow, neither of them wanting to break away from the other, but it had more feeling then she knew one action could have. It was a slow burning fire that quickly turned into an inferno. Her legs gave out but it hardly mattered, his arms were holding her so tightly against him. One he had in a tight embrace around her waist, the other had moved from her face to around her shoulders, keeping their upper and lower bodies together. She couldn't move if she wanted to.

They broke for air but hardly paused, their passion was the fire and their bodies fueled it. He brought her into another heated kiss, more aggressively pressing against her. She opened her lips to him and he took great pleasure in mapping out the new territory. She was vaguely surprised when her back hit the wall, she had been sure they had been next to the bed, but the thought left her quickly as she wrapped her arms around his neck. He brought her closer to him, their bodies melting into one. She wrapped her legs around his waist and he held her up, their tongues battling for dominance. He sucked lightly on her lip and she moaned, bucking against him. They broke apart, but Raph still wasn't done with her. He ground his hips into hers as she started working on his neck, alternating between nips and licks. His hand made its way to her back and cupped her ass. He pulled apart and attacked her mouth again. The hand that was on her ass made its way to the front, and Li heard her pants unzip. She pulled away from Raph, panting.

"Stop. We have to stop."

"Why?"

"I can't do this, we can't do this." Raph pulled away and set her down, keeping his arms around his waist to steady her.

"What da shell are yah talkin' bout?"

"Raph, I can't."

"Can't what? Be with a turtle? After everyting…"

"No you idiot. I can't sleep with you yet and especially not in Mikey's room." Raph blinked.

"Oh." He had been ready for a fight, but was completely off the mark. He was incredibly relieved she wasn't rejecting him, and instead redirected his energy towards kissing her again.

"I can respect dat."

"Well good, we haven't even been on one date yet."

"We went out riding." He nuzzled her neck.

"That's not a date….well okay, that was half a date. I would need at least two and a half more dates before I would consider sleeping with you."

"You wanna grab dinner and half a movie?" She smiled.

"Let's not get too eager now, or I'll think you only want me for my body." He kept one arm wrapped around her and reached up with his other hand to brush the hair out of her face.

"Dat's just a bonus babe." She leaned down and kissed him again.

"Shut up."

Piper was crawling on the floor around the couch looking for her book. Leo stood behind her, trying to pretend he wasn't staring at her skirt-clad ass.

"Here it is!" Piper held her copy of _Red Queen_ victoriously above her head. She slapped it down on the table and got to her feet, brushing the dust off of her skirt. "Good, now I just need to find my phone. Haven't needed that thing in weeks." She decided not to continue the sentence. Leo, however, was persistent.

"Wait, you mean you haven't talked to your parents at all?" She turned around.

"Well I couldn't talk to them, they thought I was a fugitive, and Bishop could have traced the call."

"Piper, that was two weeks ago." She shrugged. She didn't really have an answer for that. "Piper, you need to talk to them."

"Hello, I'm going home, remember? I'll see them then." She turned around and walked into the kitchen. She did not want to talk about this, Leo, however, did.

"Piper you should have called them. They must be worried about you."

"No, I've already got this worked out. I'm going to feed them some bogus story, and they'll drop it. Besides, maybe they haven't noticed."

"That you've been gone for five weeks?"

"Look my parents fall into the absentee category. I don't think a five week stint of no communication is going to show up on their radar."

"That can't be true." Piper ran her hand through her hair exasperated.

"Look Da Vinci what does it matter? I'm going home in a few days so it doesn't really matter. Why do you even care?"

"Why don't you care? They're your parents."

"Yeah, my parents, not yours. So back off." Leo put his hands up.

"Look, I'm sorry. I just want to be, I don't know, you're leaving and I want to be…involved. I don't want you to leave, I just…."

"Oh please Leo you weren't even sure you wanted to still be with me, and now you're trying to tell me how to interact with my parents?"

"I'm not trying to tell you to do anything. And I do want to be with you! I thought it was obvious…" He trailed off, unsure, and she went and wrapped her arms around him.

"It's okay, let's just talk about something else, okay?" She said with fake enthusiasm. Leo's shoulders slumped.

"Yeah, sure." Piper wrapped her arms around him and leaned against his plastron.

"Look, I'm sorry I'm just trying to pick a fight so that leaving will be easier."

"I'm sorry too. And it's not forever." He added, looking into her eyes, seeking reassurance.

"Yeah, just till I'm done with school. Not long." She leaned her head against his plastron and he tightened his arms around her. It wasn't long. Not really.

Raph had taken Li out riding several hours before, trying to forget that she was leaving tomorrow. His chest hurt whenever he thought about it. It was a feeling so unusual for him that at first he thought he might have been having a heart attack.

Li wrapped her arms around Raph, her cheek resting on his shell. She smelled the scent of gasoline and motor-oil. He had been working on the cycle before he took her out, she inhaled again and knew the smell would always remind her of him. She closed her eyes and felt the air rush by her. Why did she have to finish college? The single girl had finally found her mutant man and now she had to leave. Typical.

Raph slowed his bike to a stop, they were back in the city now but nowhere near the lair. She scanned the area and smiled when she noticed where he took her, their rooftop. The sun was setting as he hoisted her up to the fire escape. She sat at the ledge and smiled as Raph pulled her into him. They sat in silence, listening to the fog horns from the freighters and the sounds of traffic. She would miss the city when she went home. She sighed and leaned into him, resting her head on his shoulder. He sensed her discontent.

"Something bothering yah toots?"

"I just…I don't want to leave."

"I know, I don't want yah ta leave either."

"It's just I'm so close, I only have this last semester before I'm done and I've been working toward this for years." She sighed again and watched a ferry pass. "I wouldn't leave if I didn't have to." Raph turned away from her.

"I know dat… I'm just worried dat if yah leave I won't see yah again." Li grabbed his muscled arm and turned him back to face her.

"No way, I'm coming back, I'm not even sure I can stay away till the semester is over." Raph let a little smile touch his face.

"Can't stay away from me, can yah?" Li smiled and wrapped her arms around him. He embraced her and buried his face in her hair, taking in her scent.

"Nope, you're stuck with me." He smiled.

"I'm okay wit dat."

"Flight 396 to Rush, South Dakota boarding first class." Li stared at the floor of the airport concentrating on anything but her impending flight. It wasn't just because she was terrified of flying, no, the sick feeling in her stomach and the welled tears behind her eyes had nothing to do with the plane. It was the thought of leaving Raph that was making her stomach turn. She finally met her perfect guy—turtle--- and she was leaving. It wasn't even that long, but she had this fear that when she left everything would disappear, like it didn't even happen. Like he didn't happen. What if she got home and suddenly she woke up and she was still waitressing? She leaned forward, letting her hair cover her face. She didn't want this all to be a dream. She didn't want to leave the life she was building here to be a dream.

"Now boarding seating two." She pulled out her ticket to check her seat and found a wrapped box in her bag. She pulled it out and looked at the tag attached.

_To one of my two gals. Mikey's super awesome fun time care package! _Inside was some of his cookies, an issue of Silver Sentry she had been reading, and a picture he had drawn of she and Piper with hearts in their eyes looking up to Mikey dressed as the Turtle Titan with bulging muscles. She snorted and looked over at Piper, who saw what she was looking at and quickly rooted through her own bag. She came out with Donny's PDA and a picture of Mikey as the Battle Nexus Champion standing on top of a podium with Piper handing him the trophy and Li holding onto him Princess Leia-style. They both looked at each other and burst out laughing.

"Leave it up to Mikey to think of the best good-bye presents ever." Piper examined Donny's PDA.

"I wonder how long it'll take Don to notice this is gone?"

"I wonder how long it will take him to kill Mikey?" Piper shrugged and started playing with the PDA.

"Not long. Oo solitaire."

"Final boarding call for flight 396." Piper turned off the PDA and gathered her presents from Mikey.

"That'd be us." Li put the picture Mikey drew in the folds of her new comic book, holding them close. The picture, her one physical reminder that this wasn't a dream, and that she would come back and he would still be here when she returned. She took one last look as she and Piper boarded the plane. She would be back, count on it.


End file.
